SUPER-8 Demos Review

After featuring SUPER-8 on Frequency-Ireland last month, they kindly posted on the rest of their demo material for me to listen to. This has proven to be not only the most comprehensive demo I have received at Frequency-Ireland to date (a full 12 track demo album and a further 3 tracks on a demo EP), but also the most consistently impressive.

Clearly heavily influenced by The Jesus and Mary Chain (actually their demo EP included a fine cover of JAMC's Reverence), most of the material gets the noise-laced treatment of fuzzed up distortion and feedback over simple but infectious indie-rock guitar melodies, and have a vocal and lyrical style which aim at a certain mood of dark dripping coolness. It's a well worked formula. However, the comparisons end there, as there are a lot of other ideas and influences at work here; influences ranging from Lou Reed in 'Deep and Husky' to Primal Scream in 'Devil Girls' jump out quite clearly to mention but two more.

As for the songs themselves, it has been difficult to nail down consistent favourites, but the lead track 'Undercover Blues' certainly continues to be one of them. Among others would be 'The End Will Never Come Again' and 'Crazy Way To Be', both built around quite infectious power-riffs, and the infectiouly melodic 'Rip Off'. For the most part, their songs tend to work best when they seem at their most effortless, particularly in the simple but effective refrain of “I think I've lost control” in the mellowed out track 'Lost Control' and the emphatic chorus in 'Lunatic' which is built around the simple line “and you know i will never forget”. The fact that these moments stand out amongst the rest of their material is quite a paradox however, as I would consider SUPER-8 to be a lyrically strong band, and in 'Friction', a sublimely tripped out indie-rock song, they reach some of their most memorable:

"As you face condemnation and you kill time at the station
and you're looking for salvation but it just cannot be found.
It’s your first time crucifixion, it lights my fascination,
it sparks a revelation and your presence calms me down."
- Friction by SUPER-8

SUPER-8 have recently registered on ArtBoo where all of these demo recordings can now be purchased online. Four of these tracks can also be downloaded from their myspace.

Related Links:

http://www.myspace.com/wearesuper8

http://www.artboo.com/super8/music

The earlier feature on SUPER-8, which included a brief interview with the band, can still be found in the Frequency-Ireland archives here.