You’re at the gig. It’s a cold night in let’s say February or March, yet unseasonably warm. Your friends got you out for this one. ‘It’s gonna be a banger’, they said, so you obliged. The night’s going slow and you’re sipping that Pabst you barely want and half heartedly smoking the dregs of your “last pack” because you’re “quitting”. The music goes on and so do you, doing the motions. You get back home from your night out, blasted, climbing up the stairs on all fours, going through the motions. You wake up, still blasted, having wasted nearly the whole day. I think this is where Viagra Boys are coming from on their latest release.
“Common Sense” is a sobering din of reflection and guilt. “Why don’t you have some common sense,” exclaims vocalist Sebastian Murphy under a quirky but genuinely lush backdrop of swirling guitars and synths. The title track of this EP is a wonderful standalone track that leaves not much else to be desired, but what follows is typical fare for Viagra Boys lunacy. “Lick the Bag” is the aural embodiment of enablement. A growling saxophone slithers around the track, harking back to Iggy Pop’s early solo albums and Psychedelic Furs’ consistent post punk tempos.
“Sentinel Island” presents some diversity in voice by incorporating modern sounding drum pads flanked by a drunk sax. The Boys remain haunted by side effects of the party life even in desolate isolation. The last track, “Blue” is a blues shuffle stripped down perhaps too gaunt until glassy affirming guitars leak in to comfort the overall tone. Everything breaks down for an awkwardly long moment and creaks back into a creepy bridge.
Listening to this EP is not easy, however fresh and boisterous it may be. The Boys conjure the wonderful abandon of excess and giving-no-damn, but so eloquently display its price. Common Sense is ugly as all hell, but pretty all the same. This release carries the spirit of proto and post-punk into the now, conjuring Iggy and Nick Cave with a fresh new take. Check out Viagra Boy’s latest and don’t get too lost in the sauce.
