HOWLING BELLS – THE LOUDEST MACHINE

After extensive U.S. touring in 2010, during which most of this record’s songs were written, Aussie expats Howling Bells shacked up in Las Vegas, Nevada with first-time producer Mark Stoermer, who some may recognise as the po-faced bass player for pop-rock juggernauts The Killers. There, amongst the open desert plains and iconic tumbleweeds, the band recorded this powerful and definitive third album. The London-based quartet have come a long way since their days as Waikiki – from the get-go, the jarring and bluesy Charlatan, it’s clear that the jangly pop of 2002’s Here Comes September is a distant memory. The Wilderness strikes a chord, or rather violently hammers it. The growling, psychedelic pop that envelopes singer Juanita Stein’s agitated musings on insomnia comes to a close only to explode back to life with a frenetic and apparently spontaneous jam; a surprising and personal glimpse at the raw side of an otherwise composed ensemble. While their time in gloomy London may encouraged a darker tone in these blues rock explorations, the expansive and uncompromising landscape of the Nevada desert seems to have shaped the calmly explosive energy of Howling Bells into something greater than the sum of their parts.

***1/2