London-based garage-rock trio with a twist release their third album after a four-year gap. The follow-up to the brilliant 'Derdang Derdang' is a decidedly more fuzz-encrusted endeavour.
They're the sort of band who release an album every few years, are critically lauded for it, and then disappear from view and memory until their next release rolls around - but don't underestimate Archie Bronson Outfit's tenacity. The London-based band have two fine albums to their name already ('Fur' and the brilliant 'Derdang Derdang') and although it's been four years since their last release, the trio sure know how to make a grand re-entrance.
'Coconut' pursues the same garage-intoned musings of their previous records, and if there isn't a song as immediately striking as 'Derdang Derdang''s 'Dart for My Sweetheart' or 'Cherry Lips', there's still a lot here to become completely engrossed in.
Archie Bronson Outfit have previously used layering in their music, but here, they take it to a whole new level. Much of 'Coconut' is wrapped in a layer of blustery fuzz and analogue psychedelica: 'Shark's Tooth''s grimy, weird wobble of a guitar riff is spellbinding, as is the primitive, heavy blues of 'Magnetic Warrior'.
Not all of the album's ten tracks are so dense and fast-paced, though. 'Chunk' is a superb sliver of krautrock-influenced grooviness that echoes '70s Fall material, and 'Hunt You Down' takes on a strangely drawn-out tone, like an acoustic folk song mating with an old childrens' TV show theme.
It's certainly not Archie Bronson Outfit's most commercial album to date, but it may just be their bravest. Fans of swirling, rambunctious garage grooves would do worse than to check this out.
