Labasheeda stem from Amsterdam, but a listen to their record could easily fool you into thinking you were listening to an American band, most likely on Merge records and maybe from the mid-nineties. This isn’t to say the album is musically regressive, far from it, but they evoke the essence and sonic drive of a lot of alternative American guitar music.
The female vocals of Saskia Van Der Giessen lie fractured somewhere between Karen O and Sleater Kinney’s Corin Tucker, however the slight European twang makes it less abrasive and forceful and, since it has the tone to be more restrained when needed, it is ultimately more seductive, textural and varied. Perhaps the most interesting and alluring element of the album is the inclusion of the string section, which lifts it way beyond the abundance of guitar bands with infinite nods to Sonic Youth et al. It’s what made records such as Built To Spill’s ‘Perfect From Now On’ so adventurous and perpetually rewarding.
The album balances the snarling and full throttled numbers with the restrained and slower numbers with exquisite precision, and this considered balance makes the record a well thought out series of songs. When the band are in full-steam-ahead mode, it’s charging and pulsing, all forward momentum and chugging guitars that ride along side the unrelenting drums, and when they all come together the force is brutal and cathartic. But it’s the band’s restraint that really makes it work - they know not to run when walking serves you just fine. Side one’s closing number From You To Me is a glowing example of this balancing. One certainly gets the impression that this is a band who truly relish the live environment; the record breathes such life and energy through the speakers, one can only imagine the experience intensified when you confront it in person. Hopefully this will be a year in which we get to experience Labasheeda in as many forms as possible, live or otherwise. For such well-trodden territory, Labasheeda more than outdo their contemporaries.