This is a weird little record. I’m not really sure how you categorise Bleached Wail; they certainly have a few ska-ish elements, but there’s a lot of off-kilter drums and weird guitar squeals and a complete lack of any kind of cohesion. There’s a fine line between messy and genius and I’m sat on the side of messy, although I know some would claim this lot are ahead of their time. ‘Mrs Magic’ does have a catchy riff and vocal line but the song drifts along rather than packs a punch and I’m not convinced the vocals are to my taste – they’re very English, which is absolutely fine, but there’s nothing that makes me want to listen to this band on a regular basis. It’s more interesting and different and novel than genuinely exciting. Worth checking out, but probably nothing more than that.
