As far as tone is concerned, These Are Powers have that down above anything else. Teeth-grittingly tense and with chilling atmosphere, they play the appropriate soundtrack for a bombed-out, water-damaged Brooklyn basement with one bulb for light. If the Yeah Yeah Yeahs had pursued the more confrontational branches of New York no-wave, they would probably sound like this. Since drafting Bill Salas on drums, electronic percussion, and weird noises in 2007, they've been adding 8-bit bells and whistles and a touch of 1990s Warp sound palette to the band's art-rock. Meanwhile, Pat Noecker continues to use his guitar to gnash and threaten around the edges of the songs, never being much of a riff guy from Liars to n0 things to now. Singer Anna Barie babbles, barks, and purrs over the peculiar pastiche.
When it all comes together, it makes for something singular, and there are three great examples at the top of their latest, All Aboard Future. Opener "Easy Answers" starts with a galloping glam bounce of a beat-- somewhere on the same line as Battles' "Atlas"-- that makes sampled handclaps and firecrackers indistinguishable from one another. Noecker's guitar and blurts of keyboard sound like ducks honking in a military march, while Barie veers between a mocking mutter and possessed wail.
"Life of Birds" continues with the evil carnival vibe, with especially high and grating guitar bends and more of a spotlight on Barie, purring come-hither nonsense in between screams over a bubbly electronic two-step. "Double Double Yolk" has a thick, slow beat and startling ascending and descending electric tones; Barie sings more than screeches, while there's little to no guitar at all. You can pretty easily guess at the contributions of each member here, but you can just as easily see them working together and pulling back or stepping forward to lift the track higher.
From there, the record withholds the release on all of its tension. "Parallel Shores" resolves itself instead with melodic guitar work; "Light After Sound" is largely static and nearly aimless, whispering the same phrase repeatedly over an ominous mechanical hum, until the band kicks in without ever breaking the mood. It seems like the kind of experiment in tension that These Are Powers might have grown out of, given the progress from release to release and their promising Taro Tarot EP from 2008. "Adam's Turtle" and "Glass Blocks" are more spooky, if familiar, skronk with unusual percussion, from steel drums to handclaps to water drops. But the parts seem more incongruous here, the slow, menacing beats of both being the only constant.
There's not a lot of middle ground between no-wave and laptop workouts or modern R&B, but TAP are committed to finding it while steadfastly adhering to the creepy mood of their self-described "ghost-punk." This brief album is carefully sequenced, and even the most static of their songs has added texture and direction, sounding more purposefully tense. Their catchier material that front-loads the record is so distinct and stunning, however, that it's hard not to be left wanting more after those opening tracks.
