This is something I think has real promise, without necessarily saying that I personally think it is quite there yet.

North American War are working with Glasgow’s excellent Winning Sperm Party, and have released this EP as a free download, as WSP release all their things.

Me & My G.I. Joes is all drifting atmospherics and atonal guitars, seemingly inspired by a lot of US indie music from the nineties, broken up from time to time with bursts of spasmodic, frantic drumming and disorientated fuzz.  There’s a disinterest to the vocals and, to a degree, to the playing as well, which gives the impression of a band kind of making it up as they go along.  I assume this is not the case, but it does come across that way in a sense.

When I say that I think this is not quite there, I am being quite specific, for a change.  Whilst I enjoy the first couple of tracks, there is a slight thinness to them, and when the much beefier Jelly Witch comes in I find myself slightly wishing there was just a bit more depth and power to the production all round.  Get this kind of music vibrating the base of your spine, and I think you’d have something on your hands which could really blow people’s tits off, but one or two of the tracks don’t quite have the visceral impact that I reckon they could do with.

It meanders really nicely, and the bursts of noise make it a bit like watching someone stagger towards you on the way home at night – you’re never quite sure if they’re a jolly drunk or an aggressive one, and something in their gait makes you change your mind every minute or so.

I do get the impression this stuff could be ear-punishingly awesome live, however, and don’t let my quibbles detract from the fact that I really am enjoying this EP.

MySpace | Download for free from Winning Sperm Party