Musicurious

Released on: 29 March 2011
They’re from: France!
Sounds like: Fang Island and …And So I Watch You From Afar making sweet, sweet love in Tera Melos’ bed.
Hear it: http://pneu.bandcamp.com/album/highway-to-health

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Hello dear followers. I have neglected you, but I come bearing gifts! Pneu are a French two-piece and sound about as sexy as an entirely different kind of French two-piece. And they don’t fake it— no extra instruments added in the studio. Pneu make due with just a drum and guitar. With just two instruments, Highway to Health is better than a lot of 5-piece albums I’ve heard..

The music is immediate and in your face, meaty, and simple— all while remaining complex and spastic. And in doing all this, Pneu walk the line between math and noise rock, dipping back and forth into each. I wish I could make some sort of driving Milles Borne joke because they’re French, but I’ll hold off. Mostly because I’m a lazy American. Say that last sentence with a French accent and some stank.

There isn’t much in the way of vocals until the aurally-insane “Knife Fight,” which combines staggered stabs of guitar and drums with distressed shrieks. It… kind of sounds like the soundtrack to a one-sided knife fight. I am impressed.

The best part of Pneu is that they’re a fun and accessible listen. Some math rock veers too far into virtuosity for a casual listen, and some noise rock veers too far into batshit insanery and weird noisery. But Pneu manage to balance the two impulses in a way that just flat-out rocks. If you’re in the mood for spazzy but still entirely danceable, give Highway to Health a spin.