The second single from Drahla’s debut album, ‘Useless Coordinates’, out May 3, 2019. Drahla have already answered all the boring questions. In the video for their prickly single “Stimulus for Living” the droll Leeds punks elucidated the whens and the whys and the particulars of their formation and their motivation as a band. Sort of. Fuzzy tape rolls as a droll voice intones a series of questions (“How did the band form?”; “Drahla, what does it mean?”) and the band answer in cryptic abstractions (“In holy matrimony”; “It’s just letters from the alphabet”). This goes on a little over a minute; throughout the bit, their intentions remain opaque.
“The interview at the start of the video asks standardized questions, that have the same copy and paste answers every time,” says singer/guitarist Luciel Brown. “There’s far more interesting things to explore. Within the lyrics, the same [idea] has been applied to the everyday [observations] and points of interest that have stood out to me in regular situations, highlighting that there’s interest everywhere, you know, there is a stimulus.”
This mentality is part of what’s made them work as a band over the last couple of years. They work in a pretty traditional format—guitar, bass, and drums—but they’re able to wring a little more out of it because of their insistence on digging deeper. Browns riffs are abstract and pointillist, like something you might expect from the great grayscale post-punk records of the late 70s, or no wave’s idiosyncratic squalls. The muscular monochromes of Rob Riggs’ bass work are unpredictable and elastic. Mike Ainsley’s geometric drum work is reliable, but reactive, pushing the other players into woolier territory. They’re able to take familiar parts but push at their edges. It’s all part of trying to find access magnificent in the mundane.
“Pyramid Estate” Released by: Captured Tracks Single release date: 9 April, 2019
