Shots

iTunes Review

Kelowna, British Columbia’s Ladyhawk specialize in dark, angry, soul-baring tunes that climax in cathartic vocal wails, warm overdriven guitar burns and brutal drum shots. Their tough, unadorned sound uses the live-to-tape immediacy most often found on Steve Albini productions. However, this BC quartet never ventured to Chicago for such an adventure, but rather gave it their best hometown push in an abandoned farmhouse behind a mall for their second full length album, 2008’s Shots (a tribute to the band’s ambitious drinking schedule). This naturalist approach makes for a ‘warts-n-all’ display of cranky amp distortion (“Night You’re Beautiful”), stoner/riff rock dissonance and the occasional quiet moment where the vocals shake in their cold, vulnerable nakedness. “(I’ll Be Your) Ashtray” is them being sensitive. The ten-minute slow brood of the album’s closer, “Ghost Blues,” builds to a witch-trial fire-pit chant that’s brilliantly effective and chilling.