Zoe McVeigh attacks you with a voice so loud and direct it’s shocking. Given that most psych singers are prone to shoegaze mumbling and most post punk singers are mining the Ian Curtis-isms, to hear a voice so loud and clear with each word sharpened to a point is both refreshing and slightly uncomfortable. Add in the fact that simple words are used and the one word titles, we have a singer who believes in Orwell’s less is more maxims, and proud of it. She pokes “you” right at… er.. you, making us complicit in the act.
If post punk is the music of revealing the inner workings of music than LIINES take the credo to the Nth Degree. With vocals, guitar, bass and drums they manage to make those four ingredients seem even less. They make Gang Of Four look orchestral.
And that’s why they’re LIINES. They’re the uncovered machinery, the reduction of things to geometry and interacting parts. They’re the philosophy of the way that things relate, and the resulting emotional impact.
‘Sorry’ is an exemplary introduction to LIINES’ brand of minimal art meets post punk classicism. They reveal the truth behind the art, and they’re not sorry.
colourhorizon 