Lusciously louring minimalist post-punk snarlers, Getintothis’ Patrick Clarke delves into the leaden new grooves of RongoRongo.
The gloom-groove aesthetic is one widely trodden, so much so that it can take an individual stand of ingenious proportions for the majority of modern murksmiths to muscle their way to attention.
All the more remarkable, then, are newcomers RongoRongo, given the heads they’ve already seen turn, though just three tracks in to their fledgling career.
The foursome – Mick and Phil Chrysalid, Jonny Davis Le Brun and Our Keith – originally unveiled early demos as a Cassette Store Day release in September, each track a uniquely twisted funhouse reflection of their multi-faceted sonics.
Shiver is the more accessible, taking gritty, determined bass grooves and running them through the dusky filters that characterised The Cure at their most looming.
It’s in many ways a pop-song, just without the insubstantial bells and whistles of some contemporaries, the tight rocketing chorus in particular revealing a worthy, Interpol-ish sensibility for the art of the luscious hook.
Slice of Heart extracts their more sinister leanings to a swaggering eight-minutes of eddying claustrophobia, a far grubbier, more swarming side to their coin that unrelentingly lurches forth with a pitch-black thump of drums.
Lyrically too the group pursue a disquieting edge on both tracks, sparse, breathy vocals recalling a Nick Cave–edge of horror delivered with a Kafkaesque understatement.
Latest track, Flesh, builds on the momentum adding a swirling cavalcade of melodies built amid glistening falsetto harmonies. It’s another winner.
Things are only set to get even more acute; some of the band’s as-yet-unreleased efforts are set to exceed eleven minutes and pursue an even more minimalist bent. Whether or not they can maintain the murky magnetism of their early material as they drift further into audacity remains to be seen, but on the strength of these two tracks RongoRongo‘s seem the safest of hands.
