Cut City - EP

Cut City's self-titled EP for GSL adds its own clamor to the din of dour young men everywhere channeling {post-punk} and damaged disco. The Swedish trio certainly has the tenets. Max Hansson's vocal is austere, and he says things that sound like an aside from a Kafka novel. (This might serve a purpose if we're acting naturally, from This Exile Reads Me.) His guitar switches between insistently strummed pinpricks and squawky right angles while Cut City's rhythm section is powered by frantic hi-hat, tense treble, and 2,000 spins of Wire's Pink Flag. At four brief songs, the EP flies by. But it's a satisfactory representation of Cut City's derivative yet earnest sound. The catchy deadpan strut Statues is a highlight. ~ Johnny Loftus, All Music Guide