I’ve absolutely loved everything I’ve heard from The Fresh & Onlys so far. I find their songwriting, punk acumen and even their demeanor onstage to be perfect for their time and place, their era of indie garage-rock.
How Tim Cohen (also of Black Fiction), bassist Shayde Sartin, Kyle Gibson, Wymond Milesand Heidi Alexander manage to crank out their proto ’80s jams — with fierce nods to ’70s punk and ’60s garage too — so quickly is a marvel. Their self-titled “proper” debut, released just last year, has already been followed up by Grey-Eyed Girls, a fantastic, multi-faceted record, and this tape, Bomb Wombs.
Bomb Wombs is a lot like Grey-Eyed Girls (as opposed to the punk-fueled intensity of the debut) in that it runs the gamut, wetting its beak in Phil Spector-ish doo-wop, butterfly-knife punk, Sonics-style garage, polite early ’80s post-punk circa Bad English and Antietam while wrapping it all in hazy production that nevertheless keeps every instrument separate and ringing with trebly goodness.
Damn, you have to rewind/fast-forward these things? I forgot about that, and as such I’m sitting in silence right now. Still waiting … still waiting … still wai-
And there we are, Side B. The guitars of “Second One to Know,” incredibly, remind me of the guitars found on Radiohead’s “Lewis, Mistreated” b-side (from the Iron Lung EP), but there’s nothing remotely ‘Head-like about “Horrible Door,” a straight-up punk vamp with ringing echo vox and — much like Thee Oh Sees (in fact John Dwyer told me he wanted to release Bomb Wombs on his Castle Face imprint — female coos that both double-up the lead vocals and add little flourishes here and there.
At least one of the tunes on Side B bricks. “You Live Here (Why Am I Missing You?)” is akin to one of those lame, highly skip-able Ramones tracks like “I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend,” and “Don’t You Be Half-Hearted,” while not a total loss, isn’t quite a Fresh & Onlys masterpiece with its pleading vocals and bass line walking faster than an old lady on a misty Saturday morning in the suburbs.
Hey, you can’t win ‘em all! Bomb Wombs is still pregnant with all the potential we’ve come to expect from The Fresh & Onlys. So what’s up with that full length on Woodsist everyone’s talkin’ about?
