“I’ve got a feeling this apocalypse is just for us…”
Furiously passionate, darkly funny, Efa Supertramp’s album “Apocalipstick Blues” dances in the deserted streets of our ruined small towns. Despite how haunted those streets are by the ghosts of failed dreams and lost comrades, her defiant songs are a celebration of undefeatable human energy. “There are no dreams left in this song… there are no dreams left in this town” says “Cigarettes & Stamps”, which alternates beautifully between quiet lament and explosive thrash. & I could spend the whole review quoting all the nifty clever lines you’ll find in these songs – “We asked for bread & roses & they called us champagne socialists”. What’s also really good is the timing with which she uses direct, visceral slogans like “we will beat these fascist fuckers”.
This is an artist working with confidence & intelligence, using an economy of elements – voice, guitar, spoken-word quotations & a spot of whistling, & of course pure post punk righteous energy – to maximum effect, to create a coherent world view of an incoherent world. Comparisons would be an unsentimental younger Springsteen without an E Street Band or a one-person New Model Army.
“Singing for our supper, & hopefully for some pennies, tonight is the night, but it’s only one of many… Turn the stereo up, I’ll put my foot down, I’m just hoping we make it to the next town” – all in a car that shakes when it hits fifty.
LET’S GO!!!!!!!!
By Robb Johnson
Get Apocalipstick Blues here
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