Does the current state of the world make you want to wail into the void, or maybe even jump into a spaceship and flee to another planet? You’re not alone – Los Angeles rock band The Paranoyds did both on their extra-terrestrial sophomore album, ‘Talk Talk Talk’, and it worked out pretty well for them. The record takes their garage rock roots and feeds them through the nostalgic fuzz-laden channels of a 1950s science fiction film, and the result is a cosmic step forward for the band.
The record blasts off with ‘BWP’, a groovy junket that finds unity in the unlikely pairing of discordant binary beeps and gritty band-jamming. It sets the tone for the project, swiftly answering the question of why the band members are set agleam in tin foil hats on the album cover. No time is wasted getting into ‘Lizzie’, the record’s lead single and a raucous explosion of chanted vocals and weighty drums that invoke the kooky New Wave peculiarities of DEVO.
‘Nissan Overdrive’ is a cheeky prod at the farce of modernity, the line “My heart feels heavy and my head feels light,” echoed through the duration of the track. This sense of dichotomy, heaviness and lightness, the past and the future, is a recurring theme on the album, a reaction that combats the emotional exhaustion of personhood with whimsy and humour.
‘Typing’ is the most poignant track on the record, written by bassist and vocalist Staz Lindes about losing two friends to overdose. It’s melancholic and emotive, with warped, buzzing guitar licks and spectral vocals that feel unshakeably shoegaze-y. The pace picks up with ‘LA 2032’, a thrashing anthem for the future apprehensive, with thrumming synths and bubblegum vocals that stand out in the thick instrumental brush. The album concludes on a high note with ‘Sunburn’, a zealous, untamed banger from The Paranoyds 2017 EP ‘Eat Their Own’ that pays reverence to the jaunty garage scene they cut their teeth in.
The Paranoyds’ evolution is palpable on ‘Talk, Talk, Talk’. Experimenting with vintage synthesisers, toying with multi-layered drum tracks, and traversing new sonic landscapes, they’ve made an intergalactic departure from the cushy primitivity of their previous releases. This record is – dare I make another space joke – out of this world.
7/10
Words: Bella Savignano
