EP review: Agvirre – _ _ _ _ _ _

On March 1, 2019, black student Zayd Atkinson was confronted by Officer John Smyly while picking up litter outside his residence in Boulder, Colorado. After providing his student ID, Atkinson became increasingly agitated as the officer threatened him with a taser, then his firearm. This incident of blatant racial profiling ended peacefully, but not before escalating into a standoff between the unarmed student and six armed police officers. It is heated excerpts from now ex-Officer Smyly’s chest-cam footage that you hear opening Agvirre’s second EP, _ _ _ _ _ _ (pronounced ‘Hidden’).

To their credit, the Manchester post-rock collective’s music is no less charged than the Atkinson-Smyly recordings, used here as a thematic touchstone while Agvirre try to make sense of – or maybe just ride out – a world reckoning with personal grief and systemic inequalities. Urtica In Glass rages through a blackened onslaught of blastbeats and vocalist Frenchie’s icy howls. Yet brass flourishes signal a dramatic shift. A Misirlou-esque guitar line echoes out over the scorched earth while muted trumpets survey the landscape. Think Ennio Morricone masterminding Deafheaven and you get the picture.

On second track _ _ _ _ _ _ (In Plain Sight), Atkinson and Smyly’s words slow down and smear into one another as if in a David Lynch nightmare, the officer’s slurred demand ‘drop the weeeaaapooon’ poking through (the ‘weapon’ in question being Atkinson’s lightweight litter picker). In the mire of disoriented voices and synths, a dub reggae groove laid down by bassist Dave Greenwood cues a sojourn into sun-soaked shoegaze – a hazy respite from the noise and terror.

At just three songs long, _ _ _ _ _ _ is a tantalising offering and defiant, nine-minute closer For Eldorado, Whenever I May Find You is a promising epilogue. Challenging and compelling, Agvirre possess the skill and daring needed for their music to kick against the pricks – and win.

Verdict: 4/5

For Fans Of: Pijn, Svalbard, Godspeed You! Black Emperor

_ _ _ _ _ _ is released on January 28 via Surviving Sounds / Trepanation Recordings.