Album Review: Cable Ties - Cable Ties

Plenty of bands with a fierce live show have failed to capture that energy on record. No stress there, Cable Ties have proven over a handful of 7"s that they lose zero heat from the stage to the studio and their debut LP burns like a slap in the face.

Drummer Shauna Boyle and bassist Nick Brown are rhythm section gold together. Pick whichever song you like and guaranteed those two will have you hooked by both ears in five seconds or less, pinned like a deer in the headlights and ready for Jenny McKechnie to deal a stunning coup de grace. They trundle on with the mesmerising inevitability of a landslide and are just as inescapable.

McKechnie sings with almost operatic weight and fury that jackknifes into sudden razor-edged squeals, her lyrics slicing into some deeply toxic aspects of both the Australian psyche and the music industry — from Cut Me Down's brutish, uncaring masculinity to Faustian bargains with skeezy record execs in The Producer. Same For Me came out in March last year and it's still one of the best songs in town — from the rumbling bass line to McKechnie howling, “it’s alright, it’s alright, it’s alright”. Wasted Time is a brilliant choice to close; a (comparatively) sedate sort of spoken word declaration that builds into a powerful and fitting crescendo.

Cable Ties make catchy, conscious punk at its finest and now the proof is on record.