Scenic Route

This bombshell debut EP felt like it came out of nowhere, but these two Austrian expats (Annabelle Mödlinger (synth) and Magdalena McLean (viola)) have both been pretty active members of London’s underground music scene for a while now. Notably, both are members of The Umlauts and Mödlinger has an NTS show (Roadkill Ikebana), while McLean also plays in yet another large London ensemble (Rough Trade act Caroline). While the duo originally bonded over a shared love of Tarwater, Duster, and Micachu & The Shapes, Curbside Lambsear feels like something so leftfield and unique that I immediately thought of This Heat as the closest reference point, as this EP is a unique and percussion-driven masterpiece of pared-to-the-bone rock deconstruction, sound collage, and playful experimentation (albeit with a much stronger interest in hooks and conventionally melodic structures than their freezer-dwelling predecessors).

The duo borrow their unusual name from an Instagram photo of a lambsear plant and also borrow a couple of members from their other projects, as Caroline drummer Jasper Llewellyn and The Umlauts multi-instrumentalist Alfred Lear both play crucial guest roles. In fact, I never would have correctly guessed which instruments Mödlinger and McLean actually play on my own, as most of the coolest bits on this EP are the industrial-damaged grooves, the vocals, and the noisy electronic bits (though McLean’s viola does take center stage in the closing “Uneasy”). Pinning down Curbside Lambsear’s sound beyond that is a tall order, however, as each of these five songs has its own distinctive character and the only real consistent thread is a real genius for shaping entire songs around the mantric repetition of just a poetic phrase or two. In “Jjochstubn”, for example, the heart of the piece is essentially just the phrase “the winter takes it all,” but that phrase is chopped up and harmonized in a host of delightfully haunting and hallucinatory ways.

Coincidentally, that piece happens to be my personal favorite, as that killer shapeshifting hook is beautifully  ensconced in a framework of roiling drones and a muscular, slow-motion drum stomp that gradually becomes more blown-out and intense as the song progresses. The other four pieces are bangers for totally different reasons, however. In “Man The Door,” for example, wistful vocals and a jangly Velvet Underground-esque guitar motif collide with an off-kilter drum pattern and dubby percussion effects, while the opening “No Ordinary Word” is a feast of post-punk guitar riffage, oddly timed industrial loops, stuttering snare flourishes, whimpering feedback, and deadpan vocals. 

Elsewhere, the closing “Uneasy” is another personal favorite, as a gorgeous folk-inspired viola motif is joined by a looping sing-song vocal refrain, understated organ, a killer noise squall, and some wonderfully clattering and skittering drum heroics from Llewellyn. In fact, only “Avril” arguably feels like a recognizable sum of the duo’s influences, as it has a recognizably “rock” structure, actual verses, and straightforward boom-bap drums, but the gnarly viola and slicing cymbals are sometimes feral-sounding enough to transcend that hint of conventionality. By my count, that adds up to at least four total bangers out of five, but Curbside Lambsear’s larger achievement is carving out an absolutely killer niche for themselves and doing so in supremely weird, visceral, and eclectic fashion. I have not been this impressed by a new band in ages. This EP fucking rules.

Listen here.