“You won’t get anywhere in life if you keep looking down at your feet. You won’t achieve ANYTHING that way” I was advised by all and sundry in my formative years. Clearly, nobody told Perfect Body, and if they did, they wisely ignored such nonsense, otherwise they might have ended up with Sinitta and Brother Beyond as their role models instead of Kevin Shields, Mark Gardener and Curve.
‘Getting Cold‘, the first track of three here by the band, evokes fond memories of Halliday and Garcia circa their classic ‘Fait accompli‘ period, as well as early Lush, with shades of Moose and Chapterhouse thrown in for good measure. This is continued and further explored on ‘Fields‘, before ‘Tribe Of Mine‘ lets us know that this isn’t just a retro shoegaze emporium, having more in common with the summer slacker vibe purveyed by the likes of Kurt Vile. This is a song that could have slotted effortlessly onto Smoke Ring For My Halo and nobody would have batted an eyelid. Still, all three of these numbers are nothing but enchanting.
Zac White, on the other hand, is an utter bastard. Why? Well because I do most of my listening while driving these days, and on ‘Sirhan Sirhan‘, halfway through the track, he uses some kind of chime that sounds exactly like the alarm on my dashboard that goes off when there’s something wrong with my car. I’ve played this EP a LOT, and even now, I look around, panicking, thinking my tyres are about to explode or something. Like I said, what a bastard.
Obviously I don’t really mean that, as I’m sure he’s a nice guy and that this wasn’t intentional, and what’s more, his music is equally as appealing as his counterparts. The aforementioned track lies somewhere between early Stone Roses and, later, Ride‘s ‘Like A Daydream‘. And really, what’s not to like about that? White has 5 tracks here (4 if we’re being honest, for the final piece is merely the 28 seconds long ‘Piano Outro‘) and often brings to mind The Beta Band, or perhaps more accurately Steve Mason‘s solo work, particularly during his ‘Monkey Minds In the Devil’s Time‘ period. It’s certainly the case on opener ‘Spent On You‘, while ‘Nuclear Splinter‘ has a thrilling beginning reminiscent of Crazyhead‘s version of ‘Have Love Will Travel‘. You can’t help but notice the odd nod to Super Furry Animals here and there too.
And with such luminaries acting as blueprints to both acts included here, it’s no surprise that the EP as a whole is bloody marvellous.
Perfect Body and Zec White’s Split EP is out now on Bubblewrap Collective.
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