HEALTH

Health are a young quartet from Los Angeles joining the long list of bands dabbling in angular no wave indie rock. Think later Erase Errata, Ex-Models or Mae Shi. Health aren’t really on the same page as these bands so much as a younger generation following in their footsteps. Their debut album is a 28-minute 11-song cycle of angular indie rock and occasional drum programming that’s periodically indebted to the caustic stylistic shifts of a Mr. Bungle or Melt-Banana but without much of the musical acumen. As the 11 songs come and go, the biggest issue with Health is that it often sounds like a band still too enamoured with wide-ranging influences. This is the sound of a band testing out what they could do without taking the extra step to commit themselves just yet to one direction or another. While No Age, another band to emerge from the same community, have hit the ground running with a singular blend of skate punk and shoegazer production qualities, Health have yet to stake out their sonic terrain or an approach to composition that’s their own. Worth noting and perhaps keeping an eye on for future releases, though this time Health are not about to blow anyone’s mind.