I know before I even throw on a record from Iron Lung that it’s going to be HARD and RAGGED, like an junkie jacket that’s seen its share of cold days, and that it’s going to remind me of at least a few of the idiosyncratic bands I used to worship while the rest of the world didn’t care (and still doesn’t). In the case of Flesh World I’m getting weird whiffs of this and that — including several bands on the Moniker/Super Secret rosters — and a generous portion of, now that I have my bearings, a darker, blurrier The Je Ne Sais Quoi circa their first EP. Or maybe I’ll just shoehorn them into a shoegaze-punk phylum and call it a day. Regardless I think you’ll like, not love, this one at first, but from there, if you let the relationship develop, as so few of you are willing to do these days, you never know where things might go. Trust the post-punk process as the title track piles on its addictive guitar runs and steady, frills-free beat, not too fast and not too slow. Meanwhile, there’s a fierce groove on “Not a Soul” that continues long after the wax and needle have parted ways, with an icy confidence behind it all; the vocals disappear for long stretches then reappear when you’re ready for them and not a second before. And it’s all so simple. No I’ve-got-to-show-you-my-chops insecurity, no flabby layers, no guitar breaks that reach beyond a few root notes. B-sides like this get you noticed, and while Flesh World easily are the least distinctive band I’ve heard on the Iron Lung roster, I can hear why the signing made sense because they obviously work hard to craft their compositions until they’re just right, and the production represents a near-perfect example of what you want a post-punk 7” to sound like.
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