These Are Powers – Tarot Tarot

These Are Powers are chancing it in some remote musical territory. Tarot Tarot takes communal noise pop made popular by the likes of Animal Collective and keys it up with aggressive, industrial sonics. The result is a bold and caustic musical passage.

These Are Powers was founded by former Liars member Pat Noecker, so the band’s gutsy approach comes as little surprise. They call their sound “ghost punk”, and the description fits. Uncommon sounds moan and murmur from guitar and bass played in nontraditional ways. Imagine pieces of Jimi Hendrix’s alien guitar spasms piled on tom-heavy, tribalistic beats thumped from electro-acoustic drums. Abrasive music usually doesn’t sound this good.

The terrain may be unfamiliar, but the music is not experimental. These Are Powers had a vision and they captured it on Tarot Tarot.

Starter track “All Night Services” rolls out a passive-aggressive tribal beat, then grates toward hallucinatory night club jazz . The opener gives first glimpse of the ghost as the guitar channels creaking doors and confusion. “Chipping Ice” injects the music with industrial spit. When the groove kicks in, the vocal lets loose. Once the guitar joins, this turns in to an all out jam.

The misshapen anthem “Cockles” summons some forsaken Celtic bagpipe hymn that doesn’t let up on the intensity one bit. “Garbage Bird” is a brief filler that leads to “Peel Some Off”, an ominous and steady track featuring a depraved, linear guitar line and effective vocal. The closer, “Twin Remains”, veers from ghostly pain to art house psychedelics and back again. All of this is powerful stuff. Tarot Tarot is an EP, so after 5 full songs and a brief fill, the journey ends.

Give this a listen. Some of the songs are downloadable for free elsewhere. The sound is aggressive but spirited. Listeners should appreciate.