Jimmy Pitts
Though Angel Du$t’s members have played in such hardcore luminaries as Turnstile and Trapped Under Ice – garnering the band the supergroup tag – there seems little in common between the breakneck blasts and bravado of their hardcore endeavors and YAK: A Collection Of Truck Songs. Released earlier this month on Roadrunner Records, these twelve overly caffeinated, quirky pop tunes find the Baltimore, Maryland band growing into themselves.
From the incessant hammer-on chord of opening track “Big Bite” onward, Yak… is a driving, overtly rhythmic set of acoustic pop-punk, free of fluff or filler. And while there are riffs here – most notably the shaky-handed licks by guitarist Pat McCrory on “All The Way Dumb” and “Turn Off The Guitar” – there’s even more of the acoustic guitar, something the band began in earnest with 2019’s Pretty Buff.
This is where Angel Du$t’s hardcore background informs their fresh approach to songcraft, with the acoustic guitar strummed at such a frantic pace that its propulsion serves as the motor of the record. With this rich textural base in place, the other instruments are free to explore and inform the flavor of each track.
Angel Du$t works this technique to perfection on album namesake “YAK.” After the hazy, whacked-out synth introduction gives way to stabs of acoustic guitar, the stage is set for the tight and bouncing interplay between drummer Daniel Fang and bassist Jeff Caffey. We settle into the groove as Justice Tripp sings, “C’mon/Fly into the sun just like an alien,” only for a saxophone to swoop in and take the song’s lead. In one moment, we turn from a modern indie-rock banger to a future that looks extraterrestrial but sounds like The Sonics tearing up a dancefloor in Tacoma, Washington circa ’64.
In a nod to hardcore writing technique, the rocking “Truck Songs” takes an unexpected turn in the form of a beautifully executed ending that cuts the tempo in half right as you’re expecting a raucous solo. The effect is heavier than any riff could be and serves as the yin to the chugging yang of a typical breakdown. As the song crawls to the finish line, two slinky electric guitars rise from its ashes like the ghosts of Thin Lizzy. Again, Angel Du$t nod to the past.
Then there’s album stand-out “Never Ending Game” where the acoustic guitar does steal the show. Played with maximum punk attitude, it riffs throughout – in perfect sync with drummer Fang’s incredible fills. It sounds every bit a knowing nod to Angel Du$t’s past, focusing the ethos of their punk youth through the lens of their maturation as songwriters. Fittingly, Tripp opines: “Trains move fast/won’t stop from passing/Playing games on tracks until one crashes/Wind blows cold, go home get your jacket/With a head so thick won’t get the message.”
YAK: A Collection Of Truck Songs is refreshingly low-key and playful, belying the sophistication with which Angel Du$t flip the script by playing the loud part quietly. In a fitting end, album closer “Turn Off The Guitar” leaves us with what feels like the album’s credo: “Turn off the guitar/Throw it in the fire/Ain’t no sound that can pierce my soul right now.”
TRACKLIST
01 Big Bite
02 No Vacancy
03 All the Way Dumb
04 Dancing on the Radio [ft. Tim Armstrong]
05 Fear Some
06 Yak
07 Love Is the Greatest
08 Cool Faith
09 Never Ending Game
10 No Fun
11 Truck Songs
12 Turn Off the Guitar
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