The more I hear this album, the more I love it.
At just over half an hour long, this U.S. style scurf-out debut long player from UK quartet MAZES is an all-too-brief smash-and-grab reminder of the sheer power of rock n' roll.
However, the ultra-short length of 'A Thousand Heys' is the first indicator of its potential greatness: for a rock n roll record, the 30-minute mark is the absolute height of cool, all the more so in this case when measured against the 13-strong tracklist.
That Jack Cooper & Co. manage to rifle through this many tracks in the time it takes for the cast of Coronation street to make your heart sink is impressive enough and the luckless devilish connotations thrown up by the number of tracks on offer only serves as a timely reminder of the lost soul-selling, seat-slashing frenzy that electric guitar music originally stirred up when it first horrified the general public.
Although there are some really fleeting moments of 'die-young' burnout beauty, MAZES manage to make ample room for blissful repetition to leave a permanent impression, as track after two-minute track transcends its boundaries with wonderfully wasted ease.
Thus, the acidic, harmony-filled seduction of 'Vampire Jive', at just one minute and three seconds long, is the brightest but briefest shining example of melodic brilliance, whereas the spot-on stubborn duvet rebellion of 'No Way' manages to somehow defy its ?second duration by sheer persistence and an absolute refusal to conform.
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Early on, it's the slacker tempo of 'Surf & Turf' that establishes approval via its instantly magnetic appeal. Lyrics that evoke pop-6T's images are twinned with a gorgeously languid, fuzzy guitar sound that skids to the brink of abandon. There's a glint of cold steel too, as 'Bowie Knives' offers more than a hint of a dark and dangerous undercurrent.
By the time we're at risk of being swept away by the breathless garage racket of 'Summer Hits', MAZES are firing on all spontaneous cylinders.
Cross-referencing a myriad of decade-transcending influences, 'A Thousand Heys' is a blurred and spontaneous melting pot of kaleidoscopic anti-establishment brilliance.
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