Math Rock hey? Well, to be brutally honest I don’t usually have much time for this “Oh look how many time signatures I can fit into one song” genre unless it’s done particularly well and without even a sniff of pretentiousness. Also, preferably not many of those bits where the band stop for two beats, play one note, stop for three beats, play two notes, stop for five beats… you get my drift. Anyway, thankfully Glasgow’s No Kilter avoid all my previous misgivings of the genre and instead deliver 4 tracks that merge the aforementioned pigeonhole with enough rock/punk influences to create some genuinely listenable music whilst stretching any preconceptions to breaking point. ‘Galore Nation’ is a very impressive release indeed.
‘Space Raiders’ is the highlight of this lengthy EP. The song structure bends, twists and reforms like memory foam… and oh my goodness the guitar work is unbelievable. My only annoyance with this song (like the EP in general) is that it does drag a little and I’m left waiting for the song to end at a lengthy 7 minutes 15 seconds.
However, as long as you know what you’re letting yourself in for musically then ‘Galore Nation’ will not fail to impress. Math rock may be a clique genre but No Kilter have done enough with this EP to deserve some outside attention. Whether they can build on this release and follow it up with an album’s worth of material that’s as utterly bizarre as it is undeniably excellent we’ll have to wait and see.
Rich