You might recognise Julia Ruzicka’s name. But you will certainly recognise her bass lines. As a member of Future Of The Left and, before that, Million Dead, she has shaped the sound of her bands from the low end, injecting earworm hooks and unrelenting energy with just four strings. Now, under the guise of This Becomes Us, Ruzicka has created a fascinating debut LP of grunge, punk and post-hardcore with a host of pals, from Kristian Bell to Black Francis.
And having enlisted FOTL’s Jack Egglestone on drums, you might think you’d have the sound pinned, but whilst there are moments out of that Cardiff canon (‘Undervalue Love’ deconstructs the abject emptiness of laddism and consumer culture with caustic acuity), there is much more here. Lead single, ‘Painter Man Is Coming,’ featuring that Pixies frontman himself, is a dark post-punk number that sounds like Interpol when they were still decent. ‘At The End Of Everyday’ is a superb chunk of Ty Segall-esque psych-rock, while ‘Sassessa’ takes on glam rock and throws in a wall of distortion pedals to superb effect.
