These Are Powers

It’s always interesting to see bands take the initiative and describe their sound with a unique tag, and for Brooklyn trio These Are Powers it’s "Ghost-Punk,” capitalised and everything. But that absurd gesture isn’t where they’ll find establishing themselves most difficult. Bassist/vocalist Pat Noecker was once a member of Liars, and even if These Are Powers called their music "Stand-Up-Twee-Pop,” that one-time membership would still be a reference point. But to little surprise, These Are Powers walk frighteningly close to the line of Liars’ rumbling metallic drone rock. Even if there were no affiliation, Terrific Seasons would still struggle to define itself as a genuine piece of work. While Liars could never take credit for inventing tribal polyrhythms or clanging industrial guitar stabs, they’ve certainly been practicing them longer than this band. "Cracks in the Lifeline” is the signifier of this band’s failure to save face and produce an original thought, and while I hate to rely on such lazy comparisons, Terrific Seasons does absolutely nothing to convince me I’m wrong. Even the cackling falsettos and elongated chants of Anna Barie mimic the manly Angus Andrews and his multifarious vocal cords. Of course, you couldn’t turn this album on and be mistaken that it is Liars. As much as the off-tuned piercing guitars on "Pizza Master Ice Cream Palace” or the shivering trill of "Shells for a Dead Chief” resemble them, there’s a whole upper level of musicianship and chaos absent from the three members of These Are Powers.