Zoo Zero
Album: Zoo Zero
Label: Crest Cont.
Tracks: 8
Website: http://www.zoozero.co.uk

Though barely attaining half an hour in total duration, this eponymous debut full-lengther from the fiercely independent avant-rock quartet, released on their own label, has all the feel of an epic. Expansive opening track Fracktion is a real blockbuster, clocking in at over seven minutes for a start, and lacks nothing in substance despite its necessarily mildly episodic nature; textures are based entirely around a standard guitar/bass/drums lineup, yet are creatively complex and layered with feedback and drones in support of the unexpectedly cryptic lyrics which purport to tell a shadowy story of Marxist terrorism.

The twilight zone is further explored on other tracks, often seeming to inhabit the nocturnal psych-pop world of Julian Cope, and elsewhere the more experimental side of Sonic Youth is also sometimes called to mind - notwithstanding the undeniable fact that Zoo Zero also wear their Deerhunter and MGMT influences on their sleeve to some extent. I've learnt that since Zoo Zero's true debut, a punchy vinyl-only EP (Green Apples) released last year, the band lineup has settled at Tom Pinnock, Matthew Barnes, Jonathon Lines and Christian Sancto, and as a result the emphasis has shifted onto the challenge of combining actual songs with "music where noise and weirdness clashes with melody" - a challenge they rise to with devastating effect on tracks like Double Cross with its sinister crashing discords, while a searingly intense guitar solo succeeds the more relentless cyclic motifs of album finale Spinning Pretty and on Moon Communiqué I was reminded of the lean, mean and apocalyptic Magazine.

Summing up, I find Zoo Zero's confidently different, ingenious, unusually melodic and tautly constructed blend of post-punk stylings genuinely exciting and welcomingly unpredictable, keeping the listener on the edge throughout - and quite awesome in its impact. After 31 minutes, you really do feel you've been on a journey of discovery, one which you'll want to ride again pretty soon.

David Kidman