DEEP FANTASY (Vinyl)

Vancouver B.C.-based punks White Lung reached a blistering peak on their 2012 sophomore album Sorry, an unrelenting assault of knotty guitar leads and powerful vocal performances from singer Mish Way, all rushing by in less than 20 minutes. It would be their last album before changing labels, and Deep Fantasy, their first for more prominent indie imprint Domino Recording Co., loses none of the fury of their earlier work. In fact, with only a few exceptions, White Lung keep exceedingly true to their template of marrying a complex sense of melody with abrasive punk brilliance following the Dischord Records post-punk ideal and '90s grunge pop acts like Hole or Seaweed. Tracks like "Snake Jaw" and "I Believe You" are deceptively intricate, zooming by so quickly the listener might miss some of the strange breakdowns or more complicated guitar parts that only happen once. It's when the band embrace their stranger whims that Deep Fantasy really succeeds. Singles like "Face Down" and "Drown with the Monster" play things a little too safe, relatively speaking, trading in guitarist Kenneth William's off-kilter patterns for more predictable chord progressions and song structures. The album's ten songs still come and go without even reaching a half-hour running time, so you don't have to wait too long before one of the band's more imaginative guitar hooks shows up, while Way's vocals push every song to the edge of collapse. Her performances evoke all the anger and passion of the alt-punk heroes that inform White Lung's sound, but surpass many of them when it comes to control or the incredible clarity in her spitting, snarling delivery. ~ Fred Thomas

• Format Detail: LP + MP3 DL Card
• Format: Vinyl
• Genre: Pop