Texan trio WHITE DENIM clearly mean business. Comprising guitarist/ vocalist James Petralli, bassist Steve Terebecki and the immortally-named drummer Josh Block, they recently set out their stall with a much-lauded SXSW performance and have since gone about recording their new album in a vintage trailer out in the wilderness of the Lone Star state with only "a mic, a computer, whiskey and energy elixirs" for company.
We can but speculate about what these mysterious "energy elixirs" actually were, but on the basis of the seethingly exciting 'Let's Talk About It' one can only request we try some of what White Denim were having, thanks very much, for consumption of said substances has birthed one hot diggity of a single.
Blasting through you synapses courtesy of Block's tom-heavy pounding, Petrelli's irritatingly brilliant nagging riff and an absolute slippery honey of a bassline from Terebecki (which is mixed higher than any producer has dared since Martin Hannett's sad demise), 'Let's Talk About It' is soon in an impressive lather and topped off beautifully by Petralli's attention-grabbing cat-on-hot-coals yelp of a vocal. The immediate reference points suggest the classic '80s US underground as inhabited by The Minutemen, Nomeansno and early Fugazi, but there are also traces of 'Nuggets' trailblazers like The Monks and even a hint of the inchoate rage purveyed by Ohio's semi-forgotten Electric Eels.
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Just when you're lost in the sheer visceral thrill of it all, they proceed to wrong-foot you courtesy of some laptop trickery and the sort of conga-fuelled breakdown that transformed The Stones' 'Can't You Hear Me Knocking?'. Presumably because they can. Still, once you've got over being sold a dummy, you're again nodding along in delirious agreement and marvelling that a trio can kick up such a feckin' marvellous melange without fear of commercial reprise.
White Denim, then, may not sound like much of a fashion accessory on paper. However, if their album, 'Workout Holiday', can live up to this promise, they may yet have to get used to the hot propery tag. We await further developments with interest seriously piqued.
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