The new record from L.A. Witch, Play With Fire, is the sort of thing that reaffirms the power of rock-and-roll. It's scuzzy, rough around the edges, and unruly. Drawing from past work by artists as disparate as Scientists, The Gun Club, The Cult, and Hanoi Rocks, this trio hits a nerve and never let up.
"Fire Starter" has a vibe a bit like old L7 songs, while "Motorcycle Boy" is more distinctive. Guitarist/vocalist Sade Sanchez, bassist Irita Pai, and drummer Ellie English manage to make this sort of thing sound fresh, even though in some ways it's a throwback to stuff from the Eighties. But on the hypnotic "I Wanna Lose", with its Iggy and The Stooges-style snarling hook, the trio invests this with far more power than I think any listener would expect, while on "Sexorexia" things go all sideways. There's a lot of Gun Club here but the three musicians really deserve that comparison as a compliment, not as a dismissal of what they're doing here.
Play With Fire unravels a bit near the end of its brief running time, with "True Believers" and "Starred" forgoing obvious the use of big riffs for a more ramshackle approach. And no matter how much of this record may remind you of stuff you've heard in the past, the way it's all stitched together is what's refreshing. There's vigor and fire here, and sometimes that's enough. L.A. Witch aren't re-inventing the wheel but, rather, sharpening a nasty blade upon it.
Play With Fire is out on Friday via Suicide Squeeze.
More details on L.A. Witch via the official website.
[Photo: Marco Hernandez]