You know, I once had lice when I was in middle school. I was miserable -- but also, I had bugs crawling in my hair. That sucked too. And with that preexisting trauma in mind -- specifically the spine-tingling sensation of a louse steadily crawling through the hair follicles of my scalp, or the slight resistance I'd feel as the lice comb caught one of the parasites' egg capsules among its metallic teeth -- I can hardly bring myself to listen to Sniffany & The Nits without instinctively raising my hand to scratch a non-existent itch on my lice-less scalp. Or, at least I hope it's lice-less. I'm... pretty sure it's lice-less. I think. I think. Oh god.
But part of me feels this level of paranoia and discomfort was a wholly intentional byproduct of both the band's thematic and tonal presentation. Namely, the band is fronted by one "Sniffany", who upholds the band's stylistic motif by performing under the guise of an esteemed "nit nurse" -- which is a term I didn't know existed up until about thirty seconds ago. Beyond that, the band's instrumentation is simply... slimey. Ever-so-slightly wettened by gothic, post-punk-like modulation, the band's tone aptly replicates the sounds of a moistened, waterlogged lung gasping for its last breath, with the riffs harshly emanating from the rear of the mix with a corrosive, putrid bite, and the basslines fluctuating within these darkened spasms of hardcore angularity. The vocals, fiercely postured with snarling, sneering attitude, only serve to project this level of obscenity even further, incessantly wailing atop the tensed, pogo-friendly drumbeats with a noxious fervency. Sniffany & The Nits' three-track debut EP encapsulates everything it ought to encompass, given their lice-centric theming -- it's pervasive to the senses, violating your delicate ear-space with its degenerative musical prowess, and refusing to let up its parasitic grip on your consciousness until its six-minute run-time is up. At least, that is until you decide to play this tape over, and over, and over again, just as I have these past few days. I think this is great.
Tapes are available at the link below, courtesy of Brighton's Gob Nation.
TRACK LIST:
Nit Comb - 0:00
Piggy Bank - 1:48
Good Boy - 3:50
DOWNLOAD:
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