#gentle grip

[squinko-moved]

would anyone like to hold me like a hamburger

[sockshop]

https://1918389229.s1.eshop-rychle.cz/tri-pary-cernych-damskych-ponozek-gentle-grip

[dustedmagazine]

Public Practice — Gentle Grip (Wharf Cat)

Gentle Grip by Public Practice

Public Practice’s first full-length is more tightly wound than its 2018 EP Distance Is a Mirror, less indebted to the nervy agitation of early Talking Heads and more redolent of the spiked dance punk of ESG and Delta Five. The disc begins in a whoosh and a driving, grinding low-end groove that seems, right from the get go, to be headed towards climax. And yet this cut, which is “Moon” by the way, remains a a furious, foreboding simmer, its taut, minimal drums, its eerie chanted poetry, its pinging, warbling electronics only near the end allowed to explode. The combination of muscle and discipline, incipient threat and restraint run all through this very impressive album. It is always just about to blow up.

If you’re just coming in, Public Practice is a New York City-based foursome heavily influenced by mid-1980s post-punk and no-wave. Singer Sam York and guitarist Vince McClelland were previously in Wall, a much more abrasive but equally agitated post-punk outfit with one EP and a full-length to its credit. Drew Citron, the bass/synth player and drummer Scott Rosenthal did time in Beverly, a 4AD-ish synth pop ensemble. Their current outlet softens the contours of spiked post-punk anarchy with touches of pop, landing closer to Wall than Beverly, but really its own thing.

These songs spasm into existence, batter away at a melody and then abruptly stop, shudder at the silence and pick up again. The first couple of times through, it’s hard to tell where the track breaks are, because so many of the songs have hard stops within them. Yet there’s a sleek sheen of hookiness in many of them. “Disposable” punctuates the hard hustling shuffle of its percussive beat with dream-y synth pings that’ll put you in mind of ESG’s “U.F.O.” “Underneath” bubbles with Bootsie-sci-fi bass swagger, with a semi-sung, semi-chanted melody not too far from “Heart of Glass.” “My Head” slouches and rolls with a dub-like bounce. The sound is clear and well-separated, so that all elements jut and stab in clarity, as if they’d been outlined with magic marker.

These songs are meant for dancing. The pieces are sharp, but they fit together in irresistibly body-moving ways. The music stretches out in easy hedonism then judders to a freeze tag stop, holds a pose just long enough that you can admire it, and jitters on from there.

Jennifer Kelly

[imusicin]

Gentle Grip - Public Practice

Gentle Grip – Public Practice

Gentle Grip

View On WordPress

[musicmovesmarceline]

Listen/purchase: Moon by Public Practice