Rays

On Rays' debut album the band spins eleven tunes of wiry, urgent post-punk, one foot planted firmly in the nihilistic apathy of 70 and 80's punk (Wire, Electric Eels, Pere Ubu, Eno, Television The Fall), Australian punk past and present (UV Race, Terry, Victims, Babeez), and the addictive strum of 80's and 90's New Zealand / Flying Nun pop; all of whom have found their own way to meld the ferocity and thuggery of punk with a singular melodic voice. Rays are no different; the swirling jangle of Attic starts the album off, sardonically extolling the joy of 'attic life' with Hannan's monotone conveying an underlying sense of dread & isolation. Dead Man's Curve, with it's hook-filled, organ-laden chorus plays like a lost teenage tragedy song, celebrating the desperation & angst of reckless youth. Elsewhere, tunes like Theatre of Lunacy, Made of Shadows and Drop Dead rage with a desperate fire, speaking to the absurdities of everyday life, but