by David Wilikofsky
What is post punk? Loosely, it encompasses a wide swath of music that followed in punk’s wake that was inspired by its DIY ethos and attitude but expanded on its sonic palette. Explorations of funk and dance music by Gang of Four and Talking Heads sit side by side with the shambolic tunes by The Raincoats and the experimental sounds of This Heat. Which just goes to say that post punk means everything and nothing. Yet it’s a label that feels apt when talking about The Cool Greenhouse and their incredible new self titled album. It is minimalist, stripped down rock whose attitude can only be described as punk.
The Cool Greenhouse have been steadily releasing singles and EPs over the past few years. Those records came to us from major underground tastemakers like Lumpy Records and Drunken Sailor Records. Songs were often little more than a single hook repeated over and over. They haven’t deviated much from this formula on their self titled debut, but why mess with perfection? While on paper a four or five minute song constructed with one repeated hook sounds incredibly boring, in reality The Cool Greenhouse is a gripping listen. To my ears, a large part of the success of their songs are the lyrics and vocal delivery. Frontman Tom Greenhouse is not a singer in a traditional sense; his vocal delivery is spoken as much as sung. The backing instrumentals serve as a pulsing backdrop for his complex, dense and brilliantly constructed rants.
Take “Cardboard Man”, one of the early tracks on the album. The lyrics read as a vicious takedown of empty rhetoric from politicians. The cardboard man professes his support for minority groups while later asking for pity for the white man. Clever one liners abound (“My favorite gas is hot air”, “I’m down with the kids cause my facts are alternative”). You can even hear clear references to Donald Trump (“I’ve got medium-sized hands / There’s no two ways about it”), Bill Clinton (“And I did not have sexual relations with that woman”), and David Cameron (“Or with that pig”). I could spend paragraphs picking apart these lyrics and pointing out clever turns of phrase or hilarious jokes spread across the album, but the bottom line is that this is the kind of songwriting that rewards your attention. It’s funny, biting, and smart.
While sonically not punk, the radical minimalism of the instrumentals and acerbic lyrics embody the attitude of punk. There’s also the spirit of a long line of British DIY bands (think Desperate Bicycles and other philosophically aligned “Messthetics” bands) hovering over the band’s discography. This is music that isn’t afraid to say exactly what it thinks without compromise. As a casual listen, The Cool Greenhouse is a fun record, but it rewards deep, attentive listening more than most albums. Whether they’re skewering internet trolls (“4Chan”), politicians (“Cardboard Man”, “Dirty Glasses”) or small town paranoia (“The Sticks”), they’re never anything less than entertaining. Don’t sleep on this one; it’s the type of record you’ll return to again and again. I guarantee you’ll be able to find something brilliant that you missed on the last spin.