Drummers always get a lot of stick (pun, unfortunately, very much intended) compared to other band members. There’s no end of drummer jokes, and the skinsman (or, indeed, woman) is stuck at the back of the stage, watching the rear end of the lead singer whilst, in turn, adoring fans watch the lead singer. Here comes Robots With Souls as a one-man uprising against this state of affairs: Steve Wilson, part of the two-man Phantom Theory and the, er, more-man ToLiesel, is striking out on his own with this solo project, and it in fact sounds adequately like the work of more than a single person.
‘Droids That Bleed’, the first track on this debut EP (issued by Tache Gallery Records, an imprint of Beard Museum) starts with moody, echoed, heavily effected guitar sounds, suggesting a somewhat abstract and proggish affair. This is dispelled by a quick foray into riff-heavy, Black Sabbath-in-the-future rock before settling into a rather more traditional sound. Based around a simple, catchy melody, the song is repetitive and divertingly hypnotic, moving through a recognisable song structure whilst maintaining – through the aforementioned melody – a sense of tension and oddness. The vocals are a slightly damp squib, sounding slightly passionless and flat, and the tempo is such that it’s hard to fully get swept along. All things considered, though, this isn’t such a bad take on the simplistic chuggah-riff style of Death From Above 1979 or (a much reduced and less macho version of) Melvins.
‘Watch Out!’ is more of the same, but with an enjoyable faster tempo, which provides a cheeky edge to a song which more happily veers into chaos and noise when provided with the opportunity to do so. This, along with some electronic shenanigans around the middle eight, provides welcome distraction from the vocals. When it’s not freaking out, this song sounds a little staid; however, when it loosens up – which luckily it does quite a lot – it’s a nifty take on poppiness a la Foo Fighters crossed with the slick noise of bands like The Hives.
So, a slightly strained combination – almost equal parts tradition and weirdness – this may be; but it hints enough at the good stuff to provide a taster of what promises to be a great live act, if it can be pulled off as a solo performance. Sticking the drummer at the front is often enough to unnerve a gig-going crowd, so doing that and there only being the drummer will give Robots With Souls an edge that it would be great to see captured more in recorded material.