Please meet Joan of Arkansas, a Phoenix, Arizona-based sludge pop five-piece featuring Kayla Long (vocals), Joshua Lynch (bass, vocals), Zach Bird (guitar), E.P. Bradley (guitar) and Sean Harris (drums). After three EPs and five singles within two years (with amps catching fire twice), they now have released their debut full-length album Imperfectionists. It’s quite overwhelming in many ways, coloring fiercely outside the lines. Musically it’s a dynamic, aggressive and distorted mess of punk, indie rawk, power pop, emo, stoner metal and garage rock, with frantic guitar strumming, unstoppable drums and street-tough vocals. Lyrically it’s poetic and profound (“The secret to happiness is // Lowering the bar so your ego can fit in” – from Sign of the Cobra), often dark (“I’ll peck my own damn eyes out // And drink // Until I black out” – Peck), but at times catchy (“Whoa-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh” – Big Ass El Camino). Emotion is much more important here than perfection – the thirteen songs are so authentic, raw and loud that they hit the mark anyway.
Imperfectionists, recorded liveish with Jalipaz Nelson, is out now digitally (self-released).
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