Sinews: Reanimated EP

While post-hardcore and noise-rock have remained one of the vital foundations of the U.K. DIY scene, it really does feel like the community spirit is as strong as it’s ever been.

And it needs to be, as communities like this are the last line of defence against a government hellbent on limiting the scope for any creative endeavour by selling off just about any space imaginable. Of course, it’s a similar story throughout other parts of the world as capitalism continues to strengthen its grip on anything that fattens up the bottom line.

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Oxford-based Sinews are another from the grizzled underworld of post-hardcore and noise-rock, having spent the last couple of years playing shows up and down the country alongside fellow battlers, Cassels, Beige Palace, Punching Swans and Modern Technology.

Like the above-noted acts, both sonically and thematically, you get the feeling that Sinews are another who let their music do the talking rather than any peacock exhibitionism. Consisting of Richard Bell (singer/ guitar), Luke Allmond (drums), Thomas Instone (guitar) and Brian Guerin (bass), Sinews emerge from the debris of previous acts, Hertz, Spank Hair, Worry and Egrets – all of which hail from slightly different milieus, and the band’s debut EP, Reanimated is the evidence, containing all the hallmarks of pressing bursts of noise inspired by eclectic record collections.

By way of the opening eponymous track, Sinews draw us in with feedback that rattles and hums like a presence on a cold industrial floor – a slow, down-on-the-chain rumble smattered with crumbs and caked in grease. Think of The Mark of Cain with added sludge, and later on the EP’s centrepiece, Pony Cure, those same wall-buckling notions that Adelaide’s finest exports have delivered throughout the years are echoed by Sinews, but with a youthful urgency.

Meanwhile, on The Yawning Door and Sinking Feeling, Sinews emit the kind of raw menace that is like a beast stirring deep in the forest’s underbelly, harnessing the intensity of fellow noise agitators, Modern Technology and Remote Viewing.

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On closing track, Thrum, Bell adopts more of the sing-speak style and narratives that are dotted throughout the preceding tracks. It radiates the band’s working class roots (“Just trying to keep myself afloat/ By working myself to death”). It’s a feature throughout Reanimated, forming the kind of imagery of gritty industry and desolation by stealth, ultimately making Sinews a no-nonsense commodity designed for the street level.

Honesty is everything, and Sinews provide it on Reanimated. Regardless of genres, underground scenes will always remain vital, but it’s bands like Sinews that make these communities actually tick. We await the next chapter of their story.

Reanimated is out tomorrow via Divine Schism. Purchase from Bandcamp.