The Black Angela, “Currency” (Partisan)
“currency/carry me/everyone is held hostage…
one day it’ll all be over/one day it’ll all be gone”
A welcome return from Austin’s The Black Angels, whose new record (and first in four years), Death Song (which appears to be a riff on the band’s name and the Velvet Underground song from whence it came – meta!), is due for release April 21 (pre-order here) on Partisan Records. Lead single, “Currency”, finds the band as tight as ever. Singer Alex Mass’ voice is the linchpin and dead center in the mix – carrying more than a hint of menace on past tracks, here singing in almost plaintive tones of the social quicksand of a consumerist society. The song, several times, threatens to go full-on freak-out – a sliding, fuzzed bass repeatedly sounding a clarion’s call – before showing restraint and a slow burn. If this is anytnig to go by, the new album should be a good one.
The Black Angels will also tour behind Death Song – dates here (with A Place to Bury Strangers).
