Vena Cava
Demo
Self-Released
Street: 01.13
Vena Cava = Angry Samoans + Rites of Spring + later Black Flag + Tolchock Trio + Bela Bartók
Easily my favorite new local band, Vena Cava have given us a recorded taste of their jarring, experimental punk. The band has captured the ethos of their live performance—a rickety and staggering simulation of monsters that snarl against the straight-laced disposition of normal society. The demo opens up with “Vena Cava,” an instrumental song that alternates between lush guitar chords and melodies that play with dark, moody bass lines. “The Antagonist” presents misanthropic yowls that interrupt the track’s trajectory with disconcerting bends on the strings. Vena Cava exhibit their niche for moving their songs from straightforward punk rhythms to a light, 6/8 time signature in “Brains (or Lack of),” which slides back to the punching beat—it’s incredible that drummer Milo Hobbs has been hitting the skins for only a little over a year. Demo closer “My Word is My Bond” caps off the release, as it flows from each of its three “movements” with a symphonic quality in 3:39.