Audio By Carbonatix
Try to hear this unlikely musical encounter in your head: Shane MacGowan, possessed by the ghost of Joe Strummer and twenty pints of Guinness, staggers into his rehearsal space, only it’s not the Pogues staring at his disheveled ass — it’s Ian MacKaye and the rest of Fugazi. Instead of stumbling out to find the right room, MacGowan grabs the mike and lets his fervid, raspy slur fly while the cerebral punk band launches into its trademark angularity and dynamic exactitude.
That in a nutshell is the strange and piquant vibe of Shine a Light, the second full-length album from Canada’s Constantines. Singer/guitarist Bry Webb plays the role of MacGowan/Strummer, and he can manipulate his croak into either an urgent near-howl (as on the frenzied opener “National Hum”) or a gruff yet soulful grunt (the spare and moody “Goodbye Baby and Amen”). Meanwhile bassist Dallas Wehrle, much like Fugazi’s Joe Lally or the Jesus Lizard’s David Wm. Sims, is the band’s most potent weapon, pushing the intensity with an insistent melodic throb on the more inflamed tracks. That leaves Webb and fellow guitarist Steve Lambke to trade leads, veering between minimalist doodling and feral dissonance on standouts like “Nighttime/Anytime (It’s Alright)” and “Insectivora.”
This taut, unorthodox approach works best for the Constantines. The quasi-pub-rock of “On to You” and the stomping, rootsy “Sub-Domestic” does not; those tracks bend and scuff the edges of what would otherwise be a mint offering. Stick to the road less traveled, fellas — it makes all the difference.
