The Cruel Ploy came in like a bombshell with a release that is not so much an album but a message that was picked up somewhere on the other side of the world. X’s and Ohs exist petulantly and purposefully combined with the grittiness of alternative rock and the detached machine of industrial electronics as it is fused into a thing that crackles with danger and interest.
Nothing comes by chance all through the record. Each scratch of the guitar and scrap of the voice is emotionally weighted, as though the songs have been pulled into the light instead of being made up. Skyler sounds like a blade of fog, masculine and sexy, but bordered with vulnerability and aggression. The guitar playing is snarling and coiling around addictive, industrial-tinged riffs, and Jay bass is humming under it all, like a fault line, and gives the chaos a subterranean anchor.
The album is not content with staying put. Since the hypnotic drag of opening Hashtag and the philosophising gaze of Stoic and Disorder, the band is always clawing the ground. Short and punchy songs like Your Face and Piece of Shit are like stinging blows, but the heavier, enveloping sound of Boyfriend and Jelly is much heavier. On other sites, the social commentary of Sounds Like A You Problem bites fearlessly.
The only difference that X and Ohs have in common is their devotion to honesty. The sound is leaning towards harshness and metal-touch, scratches as a form of tattoos. Cruel Ploy is a blend of acerbic humour and true self-examination that produces music that irritates more than soothes. It is confrontational, raw and excitingly alive - a debut that needs to be noticed, and to be appreciated by those bold enough to take it full in the face.
