Londoners Poino have managed to let four years slip in between their debut ‘Moan Loose’ and new album ‘Bon Ick Voyeur’, but despite the long gap between there has been no loss of quirkiness or love of making a good racket.
It’s all very evident as soon as you press play and get launched into ‘Bird Tricks’, twisting, turning and squirming as Gaverick De Vis giving your lugholes a good workout with tricky guitar work and a voice that switches between yelpy and ghoulish at the flicking of an imaginary switch.
It’s all something that fans of Alamos back in the day will appreciate – the similar art house feel behind the incongruous nature of the music is unmistakeable.
Throughout the whole album the presence of bassist Ross Blake is notable; there is a truly authoritive and metronomic approach to his playing, growling and purring away under ‘Special Wrong’. It gives De Vis carte blanche to breathe and add his distinctive style to the album.
The album does begin to collapse under the weight of its own ambition later on, tracks like ‘Doom Fist’ not living up to the sheer brilliance of its title. ‘Lazy Biotic’ is as chaotic as it gets but doesn’t quite ever really get anywhere in particular.
At eight tracks and thirty-eight minutes long, ‘Bon Ick Voyeur’ does not outstay its welcome. Even if it occasionally fails to spark there is a plethora of creativity and imagination packed within its moderate running time, especially on repeat listens. Hopefully it won’t take another four years for release number three, especially as someone needs to challenge Mogwai for the crown best song titles in music today.