Northeast Regional In the Desert LP
The ten-song In the Desert opens with a short, slow number powered by Jeff Byers’s scratchy vocals before swinging into “MR,” a noisy post-punk rager that hit me like a slightly less chaotic HOSE GOT CABLE and ended up being the high point of the whole record. NORTHEAST REGIONAL is a Richmond-area five-piece with three guitarists, which may or may not be strictly necessary, and a roster pulled from a deep bench of Virginia and D.C.-area bands. When Mike Morris takes over vocals on three of the tracks, the energy shifts hard toward indie rock, like, I dunno…the LEMONHEADS? That’s where the album loses me. The band bills themselves as post-hardcore, but a chunk of this lands closer to alternative rock, and the gulf between those two worlds gives the album a bit of an identity problem. The musicianship is sharp and the recording sounds great. I just wish they’d committed more to the aggressive side, where the songs really come alive. This could have been a killer 7”.
