By Jonny Bakes
Earlier this year, I found myself with an unexpected event of ‘First Contact’ with Boozewa, a project that was born from sheer pandemic boredom and restlessness. At the time, I recommended delving into the earlier works of Backwoods Payback to keep you satisfied for a while if you found yourself won over by Boozewa. Well, that advice was clearly a little bit premature because, a mere six months later, Boozewa have continued channelling their boredom and frustration into another release in the form of a two-track single – ‘Deb’.
Considering I was the one to make that first step into the world of Boozewa, the powers at ÜRHQ decided that it was only just that I take ‘Deb’ out for a spin and to spill all the details upon my return. And that’s exactly what I did, and it was certainly a fun ride!
‘Deb’ is more of the same from Boozewa, it takes the heaviest of the heavy and smashes this into some mellow vibes to produce gut busting, Sabbath-worshipping, stoner-doom. Recorded on what some might consider archaic technology (a Tascam four-track cassette machine, no less), ‘Deb’ has a deliberate fuzzy sound that makes it sound like it dropped straight out of the ‘70s through some kind of time portal. It exaggerates the guitar distortion and fuzzy basslines in such a way that adds a heavy and foreboding atmosphere to the two tracks contained therein.
With only two tracks to choose from, it became a 50/50 split to pick my favourite, and eventually it was the shorter ‘Now Stop’ that won the battle. It bursts into a life with a seriously groovy riff and hard-hitting drums that join forces with vocals that could possibly be mistaken for Ozzy’s which leads to a significant Sabbath vibe. It was this that really grabbed my attention and earned it a special mention in this review!
It’s another solid release from Boozewa, and I wonder how many more of these we will see before the group are able to return to something a little more normal. Regardless, if they keep churning out this fuzzy heaviness then I am all in favour of them continuing to spend time in the house to vent their frustrations in musical form!
- ‘Deb’ is released on 6 August. You can get your copy HERE.
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