Asylums are classic 90s kids. The Southend-on-Sea band are saractasic, manic, and grossly disenchanted. Like many of us, Asylums have come of age to the sound of global markets crashing. Since the rules of previous generations no longer apply, current acts have had to find ways to break into the creative industries on their own terms. Asylums have got it down to a fine art. Their debut album Killer Brain Waves has been two years in the making, with the band taking the DIY route the whole way. The album presses songs about austerity and inequality alongside adolescent daydreams of sexual fantasy, capturing Generation Y’s current situation in a neat package.
There’s something nostalgic about Killer Brain Waves, more the guilty, twenty something nostalgia of watching mindless TV and eating cereal in the afternoon while the world falls apart outside. The sharp, stabbing guitar riffs of “Bad Influence” and “Necessary Appliances” paired with lyrics like “laying in the bed they’ve made, conformity becomes a cage” calls back to the American pop punk scene that exploded a decade ago, before it put on blue eyeliner and warped into emo. At times, this same effect makes Killer Brain Waves seem a little like a throwback album.
The record is critically present day in the topics that it deals with, as “The Death of Television” rails against the disconnect of the social media generation. The track confirms that – for Asylums, at least – it was Aldous Huxley who correctly predicted our dystopian future, while the rest of us were waiting for something a bit more George Orwell. Similarly, “Sunday Commuters” tackles obsession with capitalism and the unending drive for wealth.
However, the album’s real highlights are the chirpier, less socially minded moments. Early single “Wet Dream Fanzine”, a jumpy study in sexual attraction, is a clear stand out. Likewise, the youthful runaway song “Missing Persons” will probably cement Asylum’s place as ones to watch on this year’s festival circuit.
Overall, Killer Brain Waves is a fun DIY record that reminds us of our teenage years.
Release: 29th July 2016, Cool Thing Records
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