Photo Credit: Patricia Rosingana
Dublin rockers Basht. have released their debut album Poor Advice via LAB Records. The four-piece are the latest in a long line of Dublin bands that have made a breakthrough in recent years, including the likes of Fontaines D.C., Inhaler, Gurriers & The Murder Capital – and Basht. deserve a space beside these names.
Basht. have been very busy on the festival circuit this summer, playing a few of the major ones such as TRNSMT and Reading & Leeds, building an army of fans for their upcoming UK & Ireland tour and trying out a couple of new songs from the album.
Let’s dive into the album. The first track on the album is actually called Dive and gets things off to a bright start, with some catchy, melodic guitar complementing the vocals from Jack Leavey, who has a very unique style.
Perfume was released earlier this year and is a favourite at the band’s the live shows. Leavey is full on with the vocals as the track builds, it’s a standout and one of the best on the album. The band showcase their writing abilities, with the track’s opening lyrics: “Old English rose, left unattended starts to wilt and mould/I tried to mend it, but your garden’s cold”.
Keira Knightley is another of the single releases, in fact we may have been the first to hear it at TRNSMT, as it was released on the same day as the band’s performance on the BBC Introducing Stage. Keira Knightley was written about the desperate lengths people go to in order to save a relationship, Leavey has commented – there’s even a reference to the movie Love Actually, which Knightley starred in.
Terror TV is another standout on the album and features more thought-provoking lyrics in “Keep dropping the bombs, man, teach them a lesson/fight fire with fire first to put it out/make sure the world knows what you’re about.” Superchurch delves into the world of religion and also offers a lot musically, while the drums from Ryan McClelland on Vermilion Reptilian are the highlight for us. Towards the end the song explodes into life, with all four musicians adding great depth.
Circadia offers up a hard-hitting chorus: “Sons and daughters, mums and fathers/little by little, lead their lambs off to the slaughter” – this one is going to go down so well during the upcoming tour. Kids Vs Guns is another hard-hitting and thought-provoking track, addressing the current political landscape, with title track Poor Advice concludes the album.
Poor Advice has left us with a lot to ponder on across its thirty-five minutes of great musicianship. It’s an album filled with tracks that will keep you interested right to the end.
9/10
Standout Tracks: Perfume, Keira Knightley, Terror TV
For Fans Of: Keo, Gurriers, Overpass
Written by: Alan Brown
