The Cruel Ploy from Hamilton have created something truly unheard with Xs and OHs, an debut album that transforms the alternative rock into a dystopian vision. As post-human machines find corrupted human music files, this idea of the conceptual model may have been gimmicky – instead, it is superbly performed, which makes the sound rebellion raw and abrasive and purely self-sufficient.
The aesthetic of production of the album is intentionally rough, with rich textures and reused sounds placed against the traditional standards. Skyler is bold, sultry with glitched distortion that builds on but does not obscure emotional resonance. The instrumentation is a mixture of alternative rock principles and industrial and electronic ones – guitar made of scrap metal, bass frequencies that shake foundations, percussion made of old appliances.
The tone is set by such tracks as “Hashtag” which expresses gritty riffs and hypnotic vocals, and such shorter bursts as “Your Face” and “Piece of Shit” provide a punchy contrast. More immersive experiences such as Boyfriend and Jelly explore the depths of atmospherics and the use of a sharp-edged wit, Social cliches are criticised in the form of Sounds Like A You Problem. In the darker journeys, Stoic and Disorder, there is vulnerability behind the violence.
Inspired by Nirvana to Nine Inch Nails, Paramore to Queens of the Stone Age, Cruel Ploy have assimilated decades of alternative music and repackaged it in their own way. The lyrics strike a balance between stinging sarcasm and sincere reflection and analyse the topics of society as a whole and the problems within individuals with hook-filled riffs and catchy melodies.
The fact that “X’s and Ohs” is so real is its best feature. Taped in a demolished home with faulty recording apparatus and environmental disfigurement as a means of creativity, this is rebellion as it sounds – subversive, multilayered and completely unyielding. It is loud, disorganised and completely exciting.
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