The new double-album from Philadelphia's Writhing Squares, Chart for the Solution, is abrasive, risk-taking, and a bit hypnotic in spots. It's some weird blend of fusion, prog, and noise rock that might be one of the edgiest things I've heard yet on Trouble in Mind Records, and that's saying something given the label's superb quality control.
Writhing Squares push the boundaries of what constitutes modern indie-rock, and the way this whole enterprise leaps over genre-labels is a bit invigorating. Kevin Nickles (sax, flute, synth) and Daniel Provenzano (bass, vocals) unleash hell on epic opener "Rogue Moon", before stripping things back to the heavy riffs of "Ganymede", one of the simpler things here. This one sounds like early Roxy Music as intentionally ripped apart by The Pop Group and that should speak to the power of this duo. Elsewhere, "The Abyss is Never Brighter" has a nice near-catchiness that suggests prog rock, while the 18-minute "The Pillars" melds proto-electronica with a furtive restlessness with the form that recalls early Fad Gadget. While "Respect Dead on Planet Whatever" and "The Library" are anchored by what I think is a drum machine, the pieces still fly all around the central pair at the heart of this band, suggesting that even at their most controlled, Writhing Squares are juiced up on the possibilities of destroying every form they rocket through.
Chart for the Solution is out now via Trouble in Mind Records.
[Photo: Melissa Centurio]