Discreet Charms

Reviews

Discreet Charms Delivery Model Stateholder Meeting LP

More art/dance punk out of Brooklyn that sounds exactly how you think it does. Fuzzy guitars paired with a tight rhythm section featuring a bass player who does most of the heavy lifting. The music itself is actually quite good, sounding like a slower-tempo GANG OF FOUR or a more refined DEAD MILKMEN. It’s the vocals that make this a bit of a slog to get through. The singer is low-energy, sounding more like an indie music parody or a bad Richard Butler impression. Additionally, the vocals are layered in a tinny reverb that makes it stand too far out from the rest of the music. A better mixing job with less effects may have made it all a little more tolerable. If you can look past all of that, this is a pretty decent record—solid song construction and catchy.

Discreet Charms Discreet Charms cassette

There’s an interesting balance in Brooklyn’s DISCREET CHARMS’ sound. They embody a sort of workhorse, bar band grit while paying clear homage to artier/university-read post-punk—most notably in the vocals, which I’m sure the group is sick of hearing often evoke a more automaton Paul Banks (that’s not a dig, I swear). The ultra-obscure cover of “Mo” by the PARASITES OF THE WESTERN WORLD shows that this act is in fact interested in showing you their bookshelf, but they convincingly make it their own so that it lies flush alongside their originals. I really respond to this kind of intellectual but primitive punk, and when you can write a dour bop with a hook as strong as that in “Criminals at Heart,” which comes damn close to capturing the same sort of odd magic of Philly’s PHANTASIA, you deserve folks’ attention. I’m definitely interested to hear more!