Review: Bihari Beach – Little Fort EP

Chicago’s Bihari Beach clearly aren’t the first band to sound like they were born a generation too late and they definitely won’t be the last. The three tracks on their first EP embrace both lo-fi slacker rock as well as 1970’s guitar heroes and to be fair to them they’ve put their vintage record collection to good use.

A relentless barrage of fuzzed-up guitar and thick percussion welcomes the listener to Bihari Beach’s lo-fi sound. What it lacks in production qualities, the song makes up for with nagging melody; some of which reveals a working knowledge of Television’s ‘Marquee Moon’, whilst the speed and accuracy of the guitar work points to The Fire Engines or Josef K. As if to emphasise their slacker ethos, though, (one band member even described his employment as “wanker”) ‘Shawty Farted As If Everything Was Alright’ is far more musically complex than the title promises with the song throwing out a number of riff-heavy twists and unexpected changes in pace. All of which leaves ‘I Want You To Want You To Want Me’ which starts off slowly and is clouded in a somewhat darker hue than the other two tracks; aided and abetted by the frontman’s primitive Cobain-esque snarl.

Bihari Beach’s youthful insouciance disguises more esoteric layers underneath. These nine minutes of quality art-punk may turn out to be a mere fluke but there’s definitely signs of intelligence and tunefulness which suggests they’re on to something quite exciting.

Web Sites:
Bihari Beach Bandcamp

Further Listening:
Pavement, Television, The Fire Engines