I think it must be the equivalent of angular-guitar and odd time signature day here at PT today – no matter what I put in my CD player, each band seems to churn out five minute-plus songs that throw Spy vs Spy references or seemingly belong on Deep Elm. Or actually are on Deep Elm. Ho hum. Itch hail from Yorkshire and have been going for around five years now, having released a couple of records before this one, which is their first for the prolific BSM. I think it would be too easy to dismiss this lot as another band who do that angular thing very well; after all Itch do their thing very, very well, even if it’s not entirely my thing.
Over the course of 10 songs and 38 minutes, Itch take you on a beautiful musical journey. The opening samples and sounds of ‘Table Turned’ lead into a beautifully disjointed guitar which does remind me of bands like The Next Autumn Soundtrack – the vocals especially sound like Sammie; ‘The Hopeless Romantic’ has the kind of sound TNAS were always looking to recreate. Itch have a wonderful ability to drift effortlessly from the serene to the shouty in the quick switch of a guitar pedal, keeping things interesting at all times. It also keeps things flowing nicely, the tracks build up and explode, even taking in screams at various points.
Each song is lovely in its own right, but ‘Do You Know What Fear Is?’ and the jazzy guitars of ‘But Simon Said’ stick out as being particularly good. I often find this kind of music difficult to either get into, or to hold my interest, but Itch do a good job at both. It’s certainly nothing new – other bands have had a good go at recreating this sound over the years – but if this is the culmination of five years of blood, sweat and tears, Itch can be a very proud band indeed.
www.thebanditch.co.uk
BSM
Paul