Louise Distras – Heartstrings on a hand grenade

The Skinny: Still angry…

The review proper: …and still acoustic.

Stream – ‘This is your life’

The new EP by Louise Distras, Heartstrings on a hand grenade, continues the technique explored in her previous EP (cheap plug – review). Her punk attitude is still strong as ever, paired only with a trusty acoustic guitar and the added weapons of layered voices and even a cowbell. All in a very brisk 9 minutes.

‘This is your life’ opens the EP, where the mood changes back and forth, done mostly by Ms. Distras very powerful voice. A melancholy-filled voice is sometimes confronted by an angry retort, mostly in the form of a very confrontational refrain: “Does he make you happy?” Maybe and a forth between the singer and her conscience or a frank conversation with a close friend?

‘Bullets’ continues to be a escape valve, and even if it’s poignant, it doesn’t shy away from showing that it means business. Wouldn’t want to guess any real motives behind the lyrics, but they are quite raw. Feels quite cathartic too.

Slightly cheerier (love the little chuckle while doing the intro count) is ‘Blue on black’, maybe the peppier of the three tracks. Whistling, a small chorus of mates adding their voice and a very brisk pace. “Scared of the past and wary of being used” is such an honest line and it’s a very common fear.

Sometimes when you’re angry, you want to bark at someone or go down the route of fistycuffs. Louise Distras seems angry, but went the route of the musician and liberate all that energy in a trio of great acoustic punk ditties.

—Sam

Links

Website. Twitter. Strummerville. Spotify.