The Irish band’s first record, Poor Advice, uses noise rock and punk speed to argue with the church, the state and the society around them — and it does not soften the verdict.
Irish guitar music has been productive enough in recent years that a new band needs more than momentum. Basht. arrive with a subject. Their debut album, Poor Advice, is built around disillusionment with the Irish Catholic Church, and it treats that disillusionment as an argument rather than a mood.
The record opens with “Dive”, where syncopated drums in the verses give the listener little to hold, and Jack Leavey’s vocal pushes against effects-heavy guitars instead of settling into them. “Keira Knightley”, the second single, is the clearest break in tone: a more conventional rock groove and a chorus repeated until it sticks. “Terror TV” does something similar with punk speed and left-wing sentiment, a pair of tracks that relieve the tension the rest of the album sustains.
“Superchurch” is the pivot. Its echoey drums carry the record’s central statement, delivered by Leavey plainly: “That’s why I’m leaving this church, face my god like a man.” From there, “Moth”, “Kids Vs Guns” and the closing title track work through the consequences, ending on the suggestion that some light survives the darkness the band has spent the album describing.
Calling Poor Advice a concept album is not a stretch. What distinguishes it is that the concept carries the music rather than the other way around.
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ROMBO Editorial Staff
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