EP REVIEW: Liminal – ĠENN
Off the back of their first decord, trans-national post punk band ĠENN release their EP Liminal. Promising to be a rich and riotous set of tunes, will they deliver?
A very chilled out, down tempo start with Feel, things couldn’t be more apt for the coming spring and summer months. Hazy, fading guitars and ethereal vocals set the psychedelic tone for better times to come.
If you fancy something a little more left field, Mackerel’s Funky Misson has a spoken word, seventies feel that encapsulates a sense of unrest and personal discovery. A funky, tongue in cheek melody carries the soulful vocals and keeps things lovely and playful. The production has a very intimate feel, warm and close, it’s like listening to a group of your friends jamming out for you. When things break down to a more sluggish, stoned out place, it’s all for the betterment of the tune and adds a care free vibe.
23rd March is a decent tune, and has a good groundwork with its subject matter to pull in current audiences and to merit re-listens as a piece of reflection in years to come. While there’s a fair track in there, it’s a touch thin where things need to hit the fuzz in the chorus. The guitar licks are nice, and the pattering drums have a good amount of soul to them, but the whole track just needs to push further into the heavier sound it could encapsulate, rather than staying with high treble and ending up a little thin.
There’s much more political directness in Catalyst, where lyrically things want to urge you into action and the riff wants to pull you off your seat. Again, unfortunately, things feel too thin to really amp up the tension it needs. While the vocals are very strong, they don’t let rip, but play it safe and end up more warbling when they should be frenetic and chaotic. Adding an extra layer of thicker guitar or pumping the bass up will make a huge difference to the foundations of this tune.
Just Another Sad Song suffers a little from previous critique, but manages to salvage itself in the latter half, when the vocals feel like they’re almost about to break into unrestrained territory, and the entire instrumentation does find some welly to smack you awake.
Definitely leaving on of the best for last, Falling Out is bright and fluid. Rather than the guitar melody faltering under the weight of carrying the song, the bass takes a nice chunk of the rhythm and adds a lot of bounce. Everything feels harmonious without feeling like there’s any missing elements.
Liminal ducks out of pushing through boundaries at times, and that’s where this falls short. However, ĠENN do have some potential with what they’re offering. When it’s good, it takes nods from well established ideas from psychedelic rock, either being chilled out, or socially and politically driven; there’s a scope of good stuff here. However, it’s easy to see with a little more confidence and a push into more daring directions, things could be a lot more impactful.
Rating: 6/10
Liminal is set for release on March 30th via Everything Sucks Music.
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