Untied States

Untied States make way for more noise than you’d think four people could be capable of. Sonic and textured, Retail Detail expands into enormously raucous soundscapes that weave noise, rock and samples. Untied States also escape into improvisation, integrating intense measures of unpredictability. There is also a strong sense of realness here, as this quartet’s belief in articulating their own self-portraits and personal experiences into their music come through. "It’s Not Goodbye” and "Immaculate” seem to collapse and shudder, breaking away in the vocal department while a wall of noise builds up all around. There is an element of the experimental here but the entire album remains accessible, so much so that it brings to mind Sonic Youth’s disharmonies, but in approach only. Untied States have created something far beyond the familiar and have strayed into a new place that only they have a key to. The ultimate impression is one of precariousness, as there are glimpses of delicate splendour and frailties that are always threatened by the potential of destruction that only seems a beat away.