Yr A Kool Thing

Water From Your Eyes “Barley”

“Barley” sounds to me like a musical grandchild of Sonic Youth’s “Bull in the Heather” – the shakers, the off-kilter minimalism, the deadpan counting vocals. But that’s just part of what’s going on in this peculiar piece of music that somehow works as a pop song despite everything about its arrangement pushing in the opposite direction. There’s pulses of sound that sound like someone hitting a space bar and accidentally pausing the music for a second, a melodic counterpoint that sounds like a detuned police siren, harsh buzzes, clattering drums. Water From Your Eyes turn cacophony into coherent hooks mostly by keeping the emphasis on rhythm. The music rushes forward but Rachel Brown’s voice holds your hand through it, their dry affect making it seem like just another hum-drum day in world of chaos.

Buy it from Bandcamp.