The Sevens by A Place to Bury Strangers–Review
The Sevens by A Place to Bury Strangers–Review
New York’s A Place to Bury Strangers’ newest release, The Sevens, is a collection of previously unreleased tracks cut from their sixth album release, See Through You, an album that was already pushing close to an hour-long run-time. A testament to the band’s creative proliferation, this assemblage is a culmination of eight singles that do not have any of the pressure or expectations put upon them that an album release might have; the result is the APTBS doing what they do best: pure, simple post-punk, dark-wave, gothic cuts of which the only goal is to rock.
“Change Your God” was the first of these, released in February alongside “It Is Time”. These songs showcase talented guitar player and vocalist Oliver Ackerman’s ability to craft a killer, screeching riff, bassist John Fedowitz’s signature post-punk, Joy Division-esque beautiful basslines, and like all the tracks on this project, the soundscape is aesthetically dark, like a graveyard wearing eyeliner, and the subject matter comes with as much melodrama and angst as one might imagine something like that being. “Change Your God” asks questions like “Is God even real?” and “Is he looking out for us?” while postulating that God has already abandoned us. “It Is Time” brings up similar themes of uncertainty, this time being an internal struggle and intimately discussed with someone close to them.
The next pair in this installment series was “Chasing Colors”, alongside “I Can Never Be As Great As You”, the former of which is an absolute highlight of the collection. “Chasing Colors” is a noisy, a-synchronous track, the centerpiece of which is a harp that contrasts brightly against sharp and harshly distorted guitar riffs over a relentless marching beat from drummer Sandra Fedowitz, who continues to shine on “I Can Never Be As Great As You”, which features more of the very same from her.
The four remaining singles in this series are unreleased, but I had the pleasure of previewing them, and they are just as phenomenal as what has been released so far, with the exception of “You’ll Be There For Me”, which is hands down the best single of the entire bunch. It’s a New Order-esque tune that utilizes a drum machine to stellar effect, backed by what is possibly the best performance by bassist John Fedowitz on the project and a funky, bold tonal breakaway from the distorted production laid over the guitar on every other track on this release. “When You’re Gone” is another to look out for, the most composed of all the singles on the collection and a spot where, yet again, drummer Sandra Fedowitz displays their talent on a track that builds unabated until the very end.
Devon Bristol Shaw
For fans of A Place To Bury Strangers, this collection will be a must-listen, and for newcomers, there is so much here to dig if tastes overlap even tangentially with the post-punk genre. Despite not being any departure from what’s already well-loved about the band, this eight-track collection of previously unreleased material is a definite hot spot in their catalog for being as varied as it is while maintaining a cohesion that leaves each cut unquestionably from the same cloth. APTBS’s final five singles for The Sevens are slated to be released on streaming services later this month. Be sure not to miss them.
A Place to Bury Strangers on Bandcamp
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