Album Review: Chalk, Crystalpunk

Chalk's Ross Cullen and Benedict Goddard met in film school, and bonded over a mutual love of experimental guitar bands. Musically, the Belfast duo combine pulsating house and techno beats with some decidedly punk-influenced aural assaults.

Opener ‘Tongue’ is amongst the most incendiary, vicious, uncompromising and exciting things I’ve set ears on all year, a ferocious combination of electro-clash beats, scuzzy synths and Cullen’s screamed vocals as he repeats, “The depths of your tongue are killing me / And I can’t see just what you want / Do I go back to hell / Or should I go fuck myself?” As introductions go, it’s like reaching for a handshake and getting a headbutt instead.

Chalk exercise demons aplenty on the brooding and bracing ‘Pain’, the blazing technopunk of ‘Skem’, and the unsettling ‘Ache’. ‘One-Nine-Eight-Zero’ is the poppiest track, a jaunty melody hiding the inherent sadness of the lyrics: “I sat on top (of) the stairs and watched my daddy leave.”

The hammer-beats of ‘Can’t Feel It’ drive a catchy tale of sexual experimentation that’s like Depeche Mode remixing Nine Inch Nails. Trent Reznor’s influence is also writ large on the widescreen ‘Longer’, crashing guitars and church organ synths in harmony, as the duo spread a little light amongst the darkness.

The eight-minute epic, ‘Béal Feirste’, is about growing up in the shadow of the Troubles (“I put my fingers through the bullet holes of my father’s past”), but ultimately looks to the future with something approaching hope. It’s like Underworld’s ‘Born Slippy’ reimagined for a new generation.

Impressive stuff indeed.

8/10