A few months ago when I interviewed Purling Hiss, my suspicions that Philadelphia is a hotbed of overlooked subterranean rock practice were confirmed when hearing about the loose affiliations and friendships that connect the intertwined group of enterprising artists and musicians in the city. The more visible manifestations of that scene are high-profile groups as diverse as Kurt Vile & The Violators, Espers and Bardo Pond and the appearance, in 2009, of such artifacts as the four-way split 7” Meet the Philly Elite (with Jack Rose, Meg Baird and U.S. Girls joining Mr. Vile), a testament to the city’s reach, having found release on Belgium’s (K-RAA-K)³ label.
Just beneath the initial gloss, however, are groups like Lantern, a co-ed garage punk trio led by Zachary Fairbrother with the rhythm section of Emily Robb and Sophie White. VR’s Marc Piccolo earns early-adopter points for his post on Lantern’s Night People cassette earlier this year. The group’s sound is more bluesy rave-up than muddy distortion fest, but their disloyalty to fidelity submerges the tunes in an opaque layer of disfiguring sonic slime that negates any latent pop tendencies. What you’re left with on tracks like “Out Of Our Heads,” the b-side to upcoming debut 7” I Don’t Know on Mammoth Cave Records, could be described by stacking one hip adjective onto another and trotting out a roll call of fashionable influences. Its plain, however, that between Fairbrother’s unhinged yelp, the insistent, punishing drum and bass attack and the positively sadistic five minute running time, “Out of Our Heads” is punk rock, plain and simple.
Lantern, “Out of Our Heads”
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Words: Max Burke
Lantern’s debut 7” is available for preorder from Mammoth Cave Records. A Summer EP is currently available on Bandcamp, soon to be a split 12” with The Ether on Electric Voice records. Lantern will tour North America in October and November, for which they have initiated a Kickstarter campaign. Full dates are here. They play Glasslands with Frankie Rose and Dirty Beaches on Saturday, September 17th.
Tags: I Don't Know, Lantern, Mammoth Cave Records, Out Of Our Heads
Fuckin’ love these kids. Raw power.
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