After a series of tantalizing singles, Laurel Canyon have returned to now offer up an entire EP. Produced and engineered by Bryce Goggin (he mixed Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain, among others), Victim is pretty impressive. Some of this will be familiar but the whole thing seems fresh and vibrant still.
"Daddy's Honey" is insolent punk, all bratty rawk of a glorious indulgence, while Nirvana spawn "Victim" roars in a favorable manner. Elsewhere, "Eczema" recalls other Cobain cuts, but the production here gives this a nicely clear clamor. New song "Shove" has the thump of "Serve the Servants" and the rush of the best parts of "In Bloom", which is to say it reveals another debt owed to Nirvana's breakthrough releases. Closer "Sade" is more of the same.
I sort of wish that Laurel Canyon hadn't forsaken the hooks that they'd revealed on their first two singles on Bandcamp, though I appreciate the force here. If the band's traded nuance for power, that's fine. This is all bracing stuff, delivered with enough energy to make a listener forget that lots of it's been heard before. At least Laurel Canyon are making this sort of thing seem interesting again.
Victim is out now via the link below.
More details on Laurel Canyon via the group's Facebook page.
[Photo: Laurel Canyon Bandcamp]