Drahla impressed with
Useless Coordinates, a debut album with a title that reflected how unmoored they were when they recorded its careening experiments. On
angeltape, they embody a sense of being overwhelmed even more eloquently by doubling down on the improvisatory post-punk and no wave that made their first album so bracing. Adding second guitarist
Ewan Barr to the fold lets
Drahla mine even more expression from their jagged rhythms and confrontational attack; along with
Facs and
PVA, they're among the handful of 2020s post-punk bands who are as inspired by the freedom the style offers as by its enduring cool.
XAM Duo's
Chris Duffin is just as valuable a collaborator as he was on
Useless Coordinates, whether his wailing saxophone adds to the fray on "Under the Glass" or his tape loops give some air to the "Talking Radiance"'s metallic sparkle.
Luciel Brown remains one of the most agile vocalists within this generation of post-punk acts, and though her breathy, alternately spoken and sung delivery might seem too light to hold its own among the churn of songs like "Second Rhythm," her voice skips around the heaving guitars and rhythms with ease. While it's tempting to call
Drahla's music chaotic because of its furious intensity, it's more artfully assembled than ever on
angeltape. Hearing each element of their music take a different path within the exploratory, elastic structures of songs such as "Concrete Lily" is a thrill; on "Default Parody" and "Grief in Phantasia," the band's gnarled interplay conveys the loss and trauma that called the album into being. Even though they lighten the mood ever so slightly with "Lip Sync," a collage of detached vocals and lurching blasts that's the closest they've come to a pop song, every moment of
angeltape announces
Drahla as a band worthy of far more attention. ~ Heather Phares
![A A Deeper Understanding [Digipack]](http://prodimage.images-bn.com/pimages/0075678660634_p0_v2_s90x140.jpg "A A Deeper Understanding [Digipack]")
![Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness [Clean]](http://prodimage.images-bn.com/pimages/5099997855323_p0_v3_s90x140.jpg "Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness [Clean]")