This past Friday (29th), fans of the noise rock duo ’68 were treated to their newest release, Yes, And…. Having only encountered them briefly at a festival, I was familiar with their abundant and chaotic rock sound, witnessing them thrash the drum kit and stage during their performance. Jumping right in, the lead track, “With Distance Between,” begins more like a spoken word monologue with random guitar pickings until the off-beat drumming kicks in until it slowly transcends into a heavier riff-driven second half, maintaining an off-beat and half-time rhythm.
Listening to “Removed Their Hooks” brings to mind a movie scene portraying total chaos, similar to a pivotal moment where the lead character smashes everything in the room in search of something. The tone and musicality of the song are wildly sporadic, both musically and lyrically, but somehow it works overall. Rolling into “Removed Their Hats,” we are again greeted with a half-time feeling song featuring heavy riffs and drumming. A dropout occurs midway through before lead singer/guitarist Josh Scogin screams, “Let’s take it for a walk,” leading to a half-time breakdown that eventually fades to guitar picking before ending on a high note.
The last track, “Within the Hour, They Were No More,” was the one I enjoyed the most. Heavy from the start, it drives throughout before amping up with distortion. It then drops off, letting the drums almost overpower the lyrics before pausing and transitioning into a fuller sound in the last seconds. Reading the song names in order from start to finish, the listener is left to wonder about the story between two seemingly random fishermen:
“With distance between, the captains sat.
Removed their hooks, removed their hats.
Let’s Be friends, end this war
They all agreed, then got bored
Within the hour, they were no more”
Some of the songs gave off the same vibe and seemed similar in sound and feel, with a few standing out more than others. After listening to their three prior albums, their newest release checks all the boxes a fan would expect from ’68. Whether that’s a good or a bad thing, I’ll leave it up to you to decide.
