The Creakies are a duo from Seattle who meld C86 indie with lofi garage pop. Wait, come back. And stop rolling your eyes like that. I know there is a slew of this stuff out. And that even the most diehard cardigan-wearing Pastels fan could be becoming a tad jaded by it all but this name-your-price EP, The Creakies second release on Bandcamp, is worth making some hard disk space for.
Lily Kerson and Tori Wolffe in the first half of four track digital release “Redwood” mingle dreamy innocence and lofi ramshackle in equal and delightful measure. Like less well-drilled versions of Veronica Falls, the Dum Dum Girls or fellow Washington State residents Seapony. ‘Arnold’s Song’ mixes noisy fuzzy guitar with faraway cooing vocals about sunshine, white wine and freckles on the knee. Cock Sparrer cover ‘Because You’re Young’ turns first-generation Oi! punk, into a spry, rough-edged ditty with even cutesier vocals than the opening track.
But the latter part of this release takes a more macabre turn. ‘Precious’ may open with familiar, reassuring ‘Be My Baby’ drums but some intense, heavily distorted guitar riffs lead it into a dark, despairing place. Carefree innocence is replaced by anguished and repeated questioning (“how does it feel to wear that skin?”) and the distressed guitar morphs into the over-amped thumb pianos of Konono No. 1 ‘Harvest’ retains those over-driven guitars building them into a dense wall contrasting with floaty, even sugary-sweet vocals for a creepy, elliptical tale of “a blood-borne virus” coming home. Spooky.
All these songs are short – mainly hovering around two minute mark – but make a point, memorably, even when working in an over-familiar and crowded genre. Their name may suggest over-the-hill frailty but The Creakies sound in rude, raw-edged health to me.
The Creakies Redwood [BUY]
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