I Cannot Hear Above The Sugar

Melkbelly “LCR”

“LCR” would feel wired and panicky in most any arrangement given its fast and jagged central guitar riff, but Melkbelly’s James Wetzel pushes the song to a frazzled extreme with his dizzyingly busy drum fills. The rhythm is constantly shifting but even in relatively quiet moments there’s no sense of stillness, only a jittery pause before bolting forwards again. But as the music signals anxiety, singer Miranda Winters sounds as unaffected and chill as a young Kim Deal while singing about observing people but feeling totally disconnected from them. Is she just bored, maybe? Or could it be it’s more like she’s traumatized and numb by whatever intense experience the music seems to be reacting to?

Buy it from Bandcamp.