Posy is a new band from Olympia, Washington, which self-released
their debut tape a couple of months ago, tape that can be called a Demo I
guess.
I don't have much information about these guys except that the singer
(and maybe other members) most likely got Filipino origins as the tape's
title, Bongga Ka Dai (an expression in Filipino/Tagalog that
google translates in
Thank you day
which does not mean anything but you got the idea), suggests (as well as the water buffaloes on the cover?).
Posy have obviously chosen to pay tribute to Olympia's Riot Grrrl
legacy and deliver dark, noisy and grungy tracks which could have clearly
been played by Tobi Vail and her friends a few decades ago. But Posy is not a
"grunge" band though, yes you got the 90s guitar sound, the vocals
switching from the Kathleen Annah's melodic style to powerful
shouts but there is also
a strong punk side
with even super raw screams that wouldn't be out of place in a raw / crust
punk band. Posy is really halfway between the "traditional" early
Bikini Kill sound and a rougher modern hardcore punk with female
vocals style like
Khiis or
even
Axe Rash.
It's a bit disturbing at first to be honest, it starts so much like
the Olympia sound of the early 90's that the shift to a more hardcore punk
sound is quite surprising. But it works!
I'm honestly quite impressed, the tracks are well built, well written, not boring for a sec but most of all extremely powerful. It does sound like a kick in the nuts!
The "heavy" hardcore parts recalls GLOSS (from Olympia as well) sometimes, which is clearly not an example of gentleness, and yes the next second you're back with Kathleen Annah jumping around in her panties and then it changes again and you're somewhere between 7 Year Bitch, Spitboy and JJ Doll... Yes I'm talking about fairly different styles here but in the end they all connect surprisingly well, I got used to it quickly and frankly... I love it.
An interesting point is that the band, on top of putting the lyrics on their bandcamp page, which is cool, also wrote down what influenced their writings.
Thus Bongga Ka 'Day, the eponymous song, was influenced by a Filipino hit from the late 70s written by the band Hot Dog for the musical of the same name (thank god it does not sound similar). Roberto Bolaño's Savage Detective is written as an influence on the track 10 Cup - Bait (I tried to read 2666 and found it super boring but tastes and colours you know...), for A Few Reservations - R Connect it's Rainbow Connection by Kermit the Frog (yes I know it's a bit weird) etc... (no I'm not gonna go through all of them). Of course it happens that songs are strongly influenced by a book, a movie or a silly video on youtube but I think that's the first time I see a band putting so many references, I'm not sure it's always really relevant but why not after all.
Anyway my point is that Posy's debut tape is a high quality release, the deluge of energy and the mix of great influences could only convince the old Riot Grrl and hardcore punk fan that I am... and I'm very curious to learn more about the band and to see what will happen next.
Surely one of the most interesting release I've seen lately.
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