Album Review: Berries - "How We Function"

 

We first encountered Berries in the Singles Bar a couple of months back with their recent Wall of Noise release and enjoyed it so I was intrigued when this, their debut album, landed in the review pile. Signed to Xtra Mile, the band definitely have a very angular sound to them. There's elements of post-punk in there but kind of fed through a grunge filter.

The band Berries most remind me of on here actually is the Throwing Muses (if they'd been devotees of Magazine and Wire) and that's a definite compliment. There's definitely a hint of Pauline Murray in the vocals as well which is never a bad thing. Songs like Spiral and The Expert have just the right mix of angst, tightness and melody to blend together into something pretty engaging. The overbearing theme here seems to be that of people being socially programmed to accept what society throws at them and there's certainly some good points raised here in the lyrics of We Are Machines, Copy and Haze, the latter of which packs in a killer guitar solo as well. Sirens even sounds like the Breeders giving a sea shanty a bit of an overhaul which is a sentence I never thought I'd find myself typing.

It's always good to find a band not only doing something different but doing it well and Berries have definitely marked themselves out as ones to watch on this album. Not only that but it's good to find a band who definitely have a post-punk influence and aren't afraid to mix some decent melodies and tunes in there as well. A very promising debut, make no mistake.

Bandcamp Link

NITE SONGS RATING: 🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌑🌑 (8/10)

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