Halifax rockers Century Egg allow the natural chemistry of their influences and their band dynamics to coalesce into some lasting and magnificent on their EP Little Piece of Hair. They're pretty fearless in their adaptation of the fun and flurry of emotions of '80s J-Pop as well as the way they hitch it to the driving buzz and tumble of '90s pop-punk. You'd think these styles, given their emphasis on melody, would be more common bed-fellows, but I guess it just takes a certain level of genius to suitably integrate them in order to bring out the best qualities of both.
The lean muscle and magnificent melodic potential of their hybrid sound is discernable from the outset on the engaging swivel and sway of "Do You Want To Dance?" a song which embodies the jet-setting jog and post-soul influence of what we in the "West" know as city pop, set to a spiked and churning Blake Schwarzenbach-esque cadence, wrapped and delivered in a gauzy payload of psychedelic distortion.
"Do You Want To Dance?" is a fantastic and exciting way to start off the album, and provides the proper level of heat tempering to condition you to catch the screw-turn pitch of the sonic fireball"Ring A Bell," as well as to mind the pace of the patiently scalding post-punky plod of "I Will Make Up A Method"- both of which owe their heritage as much to Hot Water Music as the generous reach and ambition of Aunt Sally.
The most striking addition to the EP though, even if it feels a little cliche to say it, is the title track, "Little Piece of Hair." It's a song that interpolates the sum total of the sounds that Century Egg explores on the rest of the album while adding an avuncular melody reminiscent of much of Satomi Matsuzaki's work with Deerhoof. Here, every line is like a wind-up summersault, a self-affirming motion that forces its way out of another layer of pubescent swathe with each rotation. The way the chords build on each other with each measure creates an excellent sense of tension and release as well, a ceaseless sensation of momentum that simply escalates its confidence through revelatory expulsion. It's a wonderful track to build the album around and demonstrates how well they can balance a thoughtful performance with a gush of rock 'n roll energy- an exercise in legacy, balance, and discovery.
