2:54

2:54 - Hannah (left) & Colette (right)

2:54 are the latest band to join the short, but intriguing line of female fronted shoe-gaze/post rock bands that happily appear to be proliferating.  I was alerted to them while browsing the incredibly promising Great Escape festival line up.  Their Myspace is almost totally devoid of any useful information; a set of demo's, the members names (Hannah and Colette Thurlow) and how to book them are all that really stand out.  I believe Colette plays guitar, while Hannah is on drums.  They also appear to have a prediliction for black, brown and gray.  They’re being produced by a fellow called Charlie Huggall, who worked with Florence + The Machine, Razorlight and The Kaiser Chiefs.  So far, so mysterious.

Listening to the music, things start to get interesting.  The first track they uploaded was a slow burning percussion heavy number called Creeping, which was reportedly recorded on Garageband.  It shows, with the sort of shockingly ratty production only that unique piece of software can allow.  Regardless of their lo-fi sound, the tracks are excellent, with a sound that recalls Joy Division, QOTSA, Warpaint and The Dead Weather.  Their guitars are grungy, the drums propelling, the bass distorted and thundering while the vocals are sweetly menacing.  Dark riffs are accompanied by reverb-y vocals.  They have two demo’s, "Creeping" and "Sugar" which are both worth listening to, but upcoming single "On A Wire" is a noticeable improvement. Opening with a spiky guitar, it soon launches into it’s menacing refrain, “out of time, and I will find you”.  Backed by the B-side "Cold Front (a more melodic number)", it’s due to be released on March 28^th, and that day can’t come quickly enough.

One last interesting fact, their name comes from their mutual favourite moment on The Melvins "A History of Bad Men". 


Download: Creeping (Demo), On A Wire (Demo)