ENERGETIC ACTION

BECOMING – SELF-RELEASED

Opening an album with a seven-minute nervy, prog-punk song is a bold move, but Energetic Action’s raw talent and technical propensity blast out right from the onset of their new LP, Becoming. The opening salvo and title track begins to a driving beat lacerated by guitar scrapes as vocalist Keaton Basset demands that words are spoken plainly. It’s like a friend walking up to you, handing you a Sartre novel, telling you to read it, and then standing there to watch you while you do it.  Becoming is exceptional because it has an ability to seem vaguely familiar yet remain challenging and artfully accessible.

This is a full-on post-punk album, but the intricate rhythms and dissonant guitar riffs share more with Canadian prog-punk denizens NoMeansNo than with the well-worn influence of Joy Division. The best example of this comes during the peak of the title track, where one cymbal/guitar stab-beat is progressively added to each successive measure. It’s also an interesting way to highlight the next-level chops that drummer Robert Burkowsky brings to a band already densely packed with talent.

The album is replete with these kinds of displays: on “Yellow,” bassist George Synnett skillfully drops thick bass chords, effectively punctuating David Finkleman’s sharp guitar chords and rhythmic scratches. “Laura Riding on the Bus” would make a perfect single, instantly danceable and infectious. “Night Wood” meanders sparsely with a tension and eventually gives way to the jagged chaos of “In the Hour Before I Sleep,” a tightly wound power-line snapping to shoot electric sparks in every direction. Throughout “Wounds,” Bassets intense poetic shouts sit a little lower in the mix creating an enthralling lyrical Rorschach blot. Towards the end, “The Lapping Sea” channels the wild dynamics of In/Casino/Out-era At the Drive-In, while album closer, “In the Morning,” eschews drums altogether, leaving a slightly unfinished feel but rounding out Becoming with a trailing dénouement.

Energetic Action have a rare kind of bravado too compelling to ignore and, with an album as self-actualized as Becoming, they are well passed the formative stage, arriving with a brilliantly crafted fervour.

By Levi Manchak