The debut record from Sydney’s Jagwar Ma has two perceptible personalities. It’s full of immersive grooves and acid-like synth lines, as well as displaying marked melodic finesse. The duo incorporate wheels-turning grooves into hypnotic arrangements, similar to contemporaries Django Django. They also regularly apply a house-music backbone, akin to the early ’90s work of another Scottish band, Primal Scream.
Their strong melodic capability, heard on the singles Come Save Me and Man I Need, goes beyond being simply a homage or reappropriation. On Uncertainty and Loneliness the question of whether they’re copying and pasting from the Hacienda’s heyday isn’t what’s most important. The vocals stand up on their own merits, even if the lyrics don’t have greatly affecting impact. In fact, it’s when the vocals stick to an ambivalent mantra, such as the delirious repetition of “Waiting for tomorrow brings another day to another sun” on opener What Love, that the universe Jagwar Ma telecast from appears most fully formed. Conversely, Loneliness gives vague details of a solitary imposition, but it doesn’t exactly beckon empathy. Rather, the forward-skipping bassline, mapping a sunny dawn, is the key emotional pivot.
Howlin’s major triumph is that it cohesively maintains a melodic emphasis within songs clearly intended to soundtrack a smoke machine decorated haze. Largely, the less-formal, DJ-oriented moments evenly supplement their alluring pop-craft, but at times there’s a sense the duo aren’t sure of their identity. The furthest leanings towards each pole, the druggy spiral of Four and the paisley chime of Let Her Go, sit alongside each other and this juxtaposition is a little disorienting. However, while at first the album might seem volatile, with repeated listens the duality is shown to be deliberate and executed to involve both the feet and the diaphragm.
BY AUGUSTUS WELBY
Best Track: What Love
If You Like These You’ll Like This: Merriweather Post Pavillion ANIMAL COLLECTIVE, Django Django DJANGO DJANGO, Pills ‘n’ Thrills and Bellyaches HAPPY MONDAYS
In A Word: Baggy
