Berlin fuzz-punk band Trash Pillow return with `RAW`, a four-track EP that confronts the theme of war from the inside out — politically, personally, emotionally, and absurdly. A project built on distortion, memory, and lived experience, `RAW` flips the word WAR backwards, reclaiming it, unmasking it, and forcing it into the light.
This extended play is built from four distinct but interconnected tracks and opens with `Bombs Make Her LOL` which I read is based on a true story from Syria’s war, about a father who teaches his five year old daughter to laugh every time a bomb explodes nearby turning terror into a game to shield her from trauma and exposing the heartbreaking absurdity of survival. A fairly heartbreaking theme but musically it`s a wonderfully enticing listen. We have a percussive beat at heart with an accompanying understated bassline and vocals that are expressed in an almost distressed tone throughout. Along route there are snippets of a child`s innocent laughter and a restrained guitar solo in the final third. A number that had an almost The White Stripes vibe about it. A reflection on the ambivalent use of surveillance machines follows with the fairly hypnotic `Eyes On Us (It’s the Sound of a Drone)` a reflective composition with a kind of subdued simmering anger held in check.
`Fellow Traveller` is another meditative submission, a haunting reflection on the Goebbels children, victims of their parents’ choices during the collapse of the Nazi regime; a reminder that even in the heart of evil, innocent lives are consumed by it. Although the subject matter is disturbing the musical accompaniment has an absorbing driving rhythmic feel with some funky riffs and ends with a child`s happy innocent nursery rhyme like singing. The final cut `She`s from a War` is quite dreamy although it muses on the plight of refugees fleeing persecution and seeking protection from conflict. There`s news like soundbites of migrant deaths in the closing passage and a brief oration in what I assume is German.
`RAW` is lyrically raw at times but not excessively. It exudes just the right amount of balance to gain attention for the topics shared and with its melodic auditory accompaniment gets it`s point across without becoming preachy and alienating the listener.
`Raw` is a release that will allow some food for thought via some catchy tunes and will certainly whet your appetite for future creations from this thought provoking fuzzy riffed garage punk outfit.
Rating 8.5/10
