Free Music :: Not Squares « Harmless Noise

May 18th, 2012
Free Music :: Not Squares

May 18, 2012
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Not Squares
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Glad to see Not Squares on Tumblr because I’ve wanted to write about their new song Fall Far. They’ve always been such an incongruous bunch from whatever angle, at first not really fitting in with any discernable scene in Belfast at a point when post-rock reigned, while here further south indie pop continued to fill the majority of the gig calendar. I think they were described as ‘thrash-disco’ some years back but it was about eighteen months before the they got a real handle on abrasive kind of dancepounders they were blending together.

The gigs that ensued were in themselves deadly, defining experiences that I remember in various rushes but last year’s Button Factory show with Mi Ami was probably the highest point of all the ten or so Not Squares gigs I’ve seen. Nothing tumultuous mind you, just a dawning realisation of how attuned and tight their songs had become, which I’ve come to recognise as the self-confidence that carries bands who’ve found their own sound. There’s an attitude that’s thrown into songs played live that can (and that night did) make a performance great, but things become consistent when those songs can also hold their own at desks, on walks and kitchen speakers too. Good music stops you in your tracks anywhere.

So it’s about time we heard more from the trio. While Not Squares’ love affair with synths had so far birthed banger after banger up to this point, as Fall Far comes to light it reveals a sweetheart of a song that hears the band ditch their abrasive edge to luxuriate in real pop. There’s the animatronic vocal to add an edge in case the loving purity of the verses sounds too much like a yearning teenager’s refrain, but from where I stand, they’ve struck a perfect balance.