WORDS BY ANDREW BRASSINGTON
Same As It Ever Was’ is the debut solo EP from Newcastle’s Moog the Eternal Downer. Moog usually takes up residence as bassist for the alt-punk powerhouse Linear, but since being confined to isolation recently, his DIY tendencies arose and out came this EP.
The five-track harks back to the 90’s glory days of slacker punk, with a simple nonchalant energy reminisce of Archers of Loaf. It’s a little rough around the edges, but isn’t that the beauty in it?‘
Wot Chu Think’ fills itself with a chord progression that could’ve easily conquered the Kurt Cobain songbook and stand out ‘Nasty Appeal’ hurdles forwards into a fury of Jebediah-like vocal territory.
There’s nothing wrong with wearing your influences on your sleeve though. In fact, the title could be a sneaky reference to a Talking Heads lyric, and the first track shares its name with a little-known Smiths album track. While those two bands don’t sound anything like the music presented here, their DIY ethos sure shines through. You definitely don’t need a million-dollar studio to produce some quality tunes.
It’s been a difficult time for musicians, trying to cope with losing their performance income and staying creatively sane, but if an influx of DIY bedroom produced releases like this emerge, there could just be some light at the end of the tunnel.
Check it out below!
