REVIEW: Screamfeeder, Kitten Licks (Time Bomb)
- Kerwin So
Brisbane, Australia's power trio Screamfeeder has been around since 1991, and its latest album (and American debut) Kitten Licks continues the bold tradition of near seamless power-pop innovated by the likes of Pixies and Sugar. Indeed, with bassist Kellie Lloyd stepping up to unprecedented prominence this time around, Screamfeeder recalls the greatness that was the Pixies more than ever.
Kitten Licks blasts off with "Static's" relentless sixteenth-note snare shots signalling lead singer Tim Steward's intent to broadcast his energy worldwide, and that he does. "Bridge Over Nothing" rides a careening wall of noise into the album's pure winner by a long-shot, the infinitely catchy "Dart." Here's where the introduction of boy-girl vocal interplay works beautifully for Screamfeeder, in which a children's playground chant is twisted into a sing-song dissection of an adult relationship.
However, the album peaks here a bit too soon, and while the rest of the record valiantly explores territories both old and new, it never quite equals the thrill of "Dart". There's some instrumental piano filler and an awkward saxophone solo ending to go along with the snarling yet sunny rock that the band has mastered since its inception, plus of course more vocal efforts by the lovely Ms. Lloyd. Overall, while this CD may not offer track after track of instant hits, nor match the pure anguish of 1994's Burn Out Your Name, its sheer catchiness and playability should by all rights open Americans' ears to a treasure that Australians have known about for years.
