sea legs / dense

Just nabbed the last copy of this on a quick ‘well I was bored’ online record shop purchase moment, fear not I’m guessing there are still oodles of copies elsewhere, just not at this particular store. This is a split release heading out of the Leeds based Come Play with Me imprint, a label who you may recall tripped out a killer 7 by the Weddoes. Anyhow, this one pairs together two highly regarded outfits currently cutting their teeth in the local scene, Dense and Sea Legs, the former serving up the muddy scuzz of ‘fever dream’. A fiercely brooding slab of potently wiring agit gouged groove that several years or so ago would have had both the Gringo and Brew imprints sitting up slavering for more not least because of its reverb festering impacting slo-core brutalism and sonic similarity to the ways of an old school early 80’s Killing Joke which all said, does it for us. Over on the flip and in acute sharp contrast, Sea Legs’ ‘favourite doll’ is the far less confrontational of the two, instead possessed of a pop purring and a mellowing melodic attractiveness that instantly recalls a more openly revealing and vulnerable variant of Dark Captain Light Captain, add to that a fondness for classic indie tropes and the applying of adoring hooks and you have something that’s guarded in its immediacy preferring instead to deliciously dish a subtle sucker punch.