Short Reviews [Pree Tone - 2018 - "Kiddy"]

Pree Tone was born at the junction of mass-protests/clashes and war in their home country, Ukraine, in 2014. They started life as a trio, and soon recorded their debut album ‘Brights’ before hitting the road and playing anywhere and everywhere they could. After a few more albums they became a four-piece comprising Seryozha (bass, vocals), Wlad (guitars), Lune (guitars) and Vova (drums). Muscially they are often described as noise-rock, neo-psychedelic and shoegaze but it is only fitting to add krautrock and space rock into the mix as well, as they certainly do. This is a wall of sound, layers upon layers of guitars where the snare drum cuts through like a bright light, and with vocals which are also low (both in terms of pitch and production) and totally in keeping with the music. They state that this was the first album created after they suffered some line-up changes, and state that in the modern individualistic world it is hard to see things through someone else's eyes, see things differently, but they tried. The resulting album contains six stories, in a manner which they feel is how kindergarteners would describe them. Although there are times when there does seem to be a point to everything which is going on there are plenty of others where the band seems to be meandering along just because they either don’t know how to finish the song or don’t want to be the first one to stop playing. When they are good they are very good, incredibly powerful, but there are other times when they have lost their way and my interest heads off in the same direction. I am sure they must be an incredibly powerful live act, at which time this material will work far better, but for someone coming to terms with it for the first time I found myself wishing there had been a stronger producer in the chair who could get them to simply finish. For fans of the guitar driven indy scene and bands such as Sonic Youth, and possibly Hawkwind, and those who enjoy the guitar noise scene and the accompanying intensity.