For
Ice Age
's first album,
Elias Bender Ronnefelt
channeled the British punk groups
Warsaw
and
Wire
. His side project
Vaer
, with
Loke Rahbek
(of
Sexdrome
),
Kristian Emdal
Lower
), and
Lukas Hojland
, follows the trajectory of those bands, sounding now like a cross between
Joy Division
and the
side project
He Said
. Like the pre-industrial bands of the '80s and goth groups of this era, the mood of
No One Dances Quite Like my Brothers
is gloomy, morose, and borderline abrasive, but there are also sparkling aspects of dance melodies. "The World Fell" builds on a punchy beat with distorted drones and synths rolling behind bombastic, synth pop vocals.
Sacred Bones
is a perfect home for the band, with its roster of crunchy, lo-fi groups drenched in distortion and reverb. However, like a lot of the Brooklyn label's releases, a little goes a long way, and
tend to veer away from traditional music and toward the experimental side. Much of the album meanders and loses focus (several songs are rhythmless, based on long drones or deconstructed almost to the point of falling off the rails). When the band hit their mark, as they do when "Pictures of Today/Victory" ramps up, or with the strident, beat-heavy march of "Motionless Duties," it makes the process of digging through the rest of the scuzz worthwhile. The vocal interplay between the yelpy-voiced
Iceage
singer and the mundane asides of
keep things entertaining, while additional percussion (courtesy of glass breaking or the slamming of sheet metal) and overdubbed horns add a sense of instrumental realness that gives them an edge over many darkwave acts. ~ Jason Lymangrover