Jaundice, orgasms and dandruff: just a few themes mentioned across the strange new record from Canadian hardcore crew Truck Violence
There’s a thin line between creative and pretentious. Truck Violence tread very finely along it with this second record, The weathervane is my body. A DIY album that mashes up hardcore elements with an odd sprinkling of folk here and there, the album follows on from their 2024 debut Violence, and is just as brooding and melancholic as its sibling.
There’s stuff to be enjoyed in The weathervane…, like its layered instrumental work that’s heavy hitting and uber-sludgy, but its lyricism spits strange poetic tales of dandruff, vaginas, yellow teeth and semen. Treading over that fine line from intriguing to plain weird, there are also many moments where it’s impossible for one not to question: what the fuck is this even about?
Eh, maybe that’s the whole point. Served up like a bleeding blue steak, these tracks will be one person’s delicacy and another person’s hard pass. Opener My dog would fuck the air has plenty of that good instrumental chaos, while vocalist and poet Karsyn Henderson wails over it with a distinct vocal tone that feels intentionally stretched and brash, ‘Enamel and my dandruff, a proverbial stretching of the vagina.’
The more folk-y side of things can be heard on House caught fire and Gerard, be quiet, with plucked melodies across forlorn fables designed for listening on a lonely porch. With Kindly, wash yourself, the band offer a conclusion to their nine track run with themes of cleansing and renewing, with another poem wedged among it.
It’s hard not to feel perplexed. Certainly different and certainly a layered work of clever instrumentation, the album teeters over into a place that feels like it’s trying a bit too hard. The kind of thing you’d hear in a coffee shop that sells £10 lattes, it’s a weird record to digest. If you like your beanie hat rolled and your music heavy yet strange, you might dig, but it’s certainly not going to be everyone’s overpriced cup of flat white.
Verdict: 2/5
For fans of: La Dispute, Hammok, Portrayal Of Guilt
The weathervane is my body is released on June 26 via The Flenser
