The Staches — Placid Faces
The release appeared in 2016, as a ltd vinyl pressing on French label Les Disques Bongo Joe. And I must say it’s one of the more appealing post-punk albums I’ve heard in some time- offering up a selection of eleven tracks that nice balance memorability, invention, off-kilter- ness, and a lo-fi charm. At times the feel of both unpredictability & caughty-ness reminded me of The Fall; but The Staches do certainly have their own distinct twist on Post-punk.
Runtime wise the whole album comes in around at the thirty-two-minute mark- with each track coming in between just over a minute & four minutes. So no sing ever overstays it’s welcome, and at times I wish they had lengthened a few of the tracks- as there are some great ideas here. but that’s just a minor quibble, as I think Placid Faces works well as just a thirty-two-minute sonic shot.
The album opens up with “Transistor”- which is a messy-yet- memorable blend of one fingered synth lines, jerking ‘n’ slamming guitars, slightly off-color female punked vocals. All to create a nicely urgent-yet- buoyant opener- which sets the tone nicely for the rest of the record.
Later on "Spare Is Lover" is blend of choppy Pixies like guitar work, wonky almost Residents like synth work, and a sing-song slightly out-of-tune chorus. Or the punchy, muffled & quick one minute twenty of “Inside My”- bringing together careening male & female shouty vocals, blunt strummed guitar work, and buried organ trudging.
It’s certainly not easy to pair together well off-kilt-ness & memorable song craft, and for the most part, Placid Faces managers to do this well. As I mentioned early on this was an ltd vinyl pressing- so I’m not sure if there are any copies left. But if you dig post-punk, with tuneful-yet-wonky sheen it’s well worth trying to track down a copy of this.