ALBUM REVIEW: Nude Descending Staircase, Headless – Teen Suicide
Post-punk band, TEEN SUICIDE, have put out their newest record Nude Descending Staircase, Headless. The Baltimore band, led by husband and wife team, Sam and Kitty Ray, managed to build up a cult following due to their blend of emotional punk, loud rock, and lo-fi style thanks to a collection of independent releases. Yet this record marks a change where this is now officially their first studio release with the songs being recorded and produced by Mike Sapone (TAKING BACK SUNDAY, OSO OSO), allowing their music to become even more jaw dropping and epic sounding than ever before.
The fun thing with TEEN SUICIDE is how you never know what will happen next across the thirteen tracks on the record. No song sounds the same and no song stays in the same style for long with constant shifts into different styles, tempos, and back again, keeping us on our toes throughout. To start us off is opening track Anhedonia, that opens with moody slow guitar with vocals of a similar nature that’s blended with distorted strings in the background. It feels like something is about to kick off, and it does when we head into loud alternative rock territory that retains that melancholic atmosphere, as well as distortion, leading to a long close of feedback.
In terms of lead vocals, much of this task falls on Sam but on a few occasions we can experience the rock powerhouse of Kitty who is perfectly utilised on some heavier moments on the record. Namely on tracks like Spiders, a song that starts slow before going off into a punk meets garage rock style with aggressive vocals to match, Candy / Squeeze that focuses heavily on distorted noises and guitar, and Keeping Her Keys that, again, starts slow with ethereal sounds before heading back into a loud punk and garage rock blend with just as loud vocals.
Yet we can also hear a stunning moment when the two sing together on track Idiot that starts out as loud alternative garage rock, and we also want to highlight how insane the guitar quality is on the record. It then shifts into a slower tempo that takes on a more melancholic approach with the two vocalists singing in a way that we can only think to liken to a funeral march. Or at the very least something that conveys that feeling. And that’s before a shift into something a little funkier sounding before returning full circle to loud alternative garage rock.
It would be all too easy for us to head into great detail on what direction each song goes into and how genius it is that we see constant shifts into a different style or genre, but frankly, we’d rather allow you a chance to experience it for yourself.
Rating: 8/10
Nude Descending Staircase, Headless is out now via Run For Cover.
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