Review: Singapore Sling - Kill Kill Kill (Songs About Nothing)

Singapore Sling, those Icelandic masters of dystopian grandeur, have a new album out now on Fuzz Club Records which is very good news. There last album, 'Psych Fuck' (review here) was a masterpiece of nihilism and brutal beauty and this new one, 'Kill Kill Kill (Songs About Nothing)' is even better; the same mix of shimmering psychedelia, scuzzy rock'n'roll and stark pessimism but this time round they have mixed things up a bit to create a far more experimental and dissonent creature....and it's bloody good!

The time honoured '1,2,3,4' opens the album, albeit in languid, moody tones, before opener 'Shake, Shake, Shake' kicks in with it's rock'n'roll intro. Right from the off you know this album is not going to be a pastoral romp through meadows of golden corn and fluffy bunnies - the menacing vocals simmer with undisguised disgust and aggression over a rolling wall of fuzzy guitars and scattergun drums straight from The Jesus & Mary Chain manual of moody psych. However, and this is an aspect that rises throughout the album, the band have added and messed with their tried and tested formula with pretty much 100% success. This time round it's the addition of a little piano refrain that complements the rock'n'roll guitar riffs and creates a noirish atmosphere. 'Scum Scum Scum' opens with some thudding drums and a barrage of electricity that gives a very intense edge to proceedings. The vocals echo around the noise and more simple piano almost succeed in lifting the atmosphere but the claustophobic nihilism is all encompassing until...a female vocal enters the fray and does lift things, giving things a shoegaze-y feel...this is shaping up to be SS's best album yet. 'Fuck Everything' takes a different avenue - desert scorched guitar and vocals dripping in ennui sit over a shimmering melange of bassline and fuzzy drones. Reading the title alone, one would imagine an angry, nihilistic diatribe but the band have, somewhat cleverly, twisted it into a world-weary song of apathy. 'Bop Bop Boo' lifts things with it's frenetic pace and almost jaunty (well, as jaunty as these guys get!) style but it hides a pessimistic message; 'Forget About God & Forget About Hope’. 'Evil Angel' sees the guys throw some horns into the mix over the pulsating bass and more impassioned vocals. This track is a real turn-up for the books - its post-punk sensibilities (some passages sound positively New Order) and 'sung' vocals are almost unrecognisable as Singapore Sling but, I gotta say, it works - in the context of the album it breaks the litany of doom, gloom and 'fuck the world' attitude, as a song it more than stands up on its own merits....an interesting direction for the band. 'Sonic Haus' is a monster of a track...the neo-psych guitars in overdrive creating an impenetrable wall - it's all driven along with fuzz drenched attitude and a dread laden menace. The addition of more bursts of piano only succeed in heightening the mood of desolation and dread....a real standout track. 'Surrounded By Cunts' (something we can all empathise with) is built on repetitive, motorik beats, drones, that sepulchral piano and stabs of 'Psycho' like strings that all come together to form a track that swirls round the ether. It's a horror soundtrack scored by the Reid Brothers..ace! 'Riffermania (Kill Kill Kill)' is another that appears to take the movies as a launchpad, this time taking 50's B-Movies as a template with its harmonies and garage rock groove. 'Nothing's Theme' sees the band starkly veer away from the neo-psych formula. A dissonent orchestral vibe with some eastern vibes and hauntological flourishes. It takes the ethos of those fantastic Giallo soundtracks a la Morricone and Nicolai, adds flashes of mariachi and ominious strings to form a superlative track that would be more fitting coming from the raft of excellent Italian Occult psych bands...superb! The album is closed by 'Nothing and Nowhere' sees the band returning to their Jesus and Mary Chain roots, albeit with a lilting acoustic number (it even has some whistling!).

It must be very tempting for a band such as Singapore Sling to take the easy route and replicate the same sounds and styles of previous albums that have served them so well, but it is heartening to see them adopt a more experimental stance and mess with that formula. The comparisons to The Jesus and Mary Chain are still there, in the vocalisations and structures, but they have chosen a more exploratory, and dare I say risky, avenue...and it works! The delicious stabs of piano and strings, the passages of brass and the willingness to even drop the whole neo-psych 'thing' at times has resulted in a fantastic album that is erudite and intelligent. The nihilistic sass and dystopian verve is still there and thank god for that...some things should never change and an upbeat, optimistic Singapore Sling just wouldn't do at all. I'm sure many will disagree but I reckon this is the best yet from the guys. 'Kill Kill Kill (Songs About Nothing)' is available from the Fuzz Club Shop here and comes as a Fuzz Club Deluxe Vinyl edition as well as standard vinyl and CD.