Album Review: Matt Pryor - Wrist Slitter

Beginning with a pre-recorded New Orleans jazz fade-in, Pryor's latest release immediately kicks off to an intriguing start. Opener The House Hears Everything tears into a fast-paced, thumping punk number. Pryor's appropriately abrasive, nasal vocals set the true shape of the album. Intermittent backing harmonies outline the central points in the lyrical delivery, and screaming guitar breaks it up. Three short songs in, banjo and cello open the title track, toeing the border between folk and punk. The album curiously ends the same way as it started, with a jazzy fade-out. But, why the hell not?