Internationally assembled post punk/grunge band GHUM’s new EP ‘The Coldest Fire,’ might be the most aptly named release of the year. That title wonderfully surmises the hostile, face-melting environment it draws you into. The band’s star signs cover three of the four elements; fire, water and air. And the EP zones in on each of them, at once sounding like a gale-force wind and in other moments like a slow smoulder, its flames forebodingly licking at your feet.
Spanish singer Laura Guerrerro Lora beguiles singing in English, her non-native tongue acting as a wonderful counterpoint to the bone-rattling rhythm section that hails from Brazil and London. ‘The Coldest Fire’ sounds murderous, pregnant with a feeling of unease that envelops you entirely. Lead single ‘Get Up’ fuses a winning combination of gnarly vocals, fraught guitars and pulsating bass, while ‘In My Head’ thrums slowly, pensively evoking the subdued quality of Mitski’s ‘Puberty 2.’
It might be a cold fire but it’s also engulfing. It promises to spread wildly and without surrender.
GHUM headline the first ever ‘Balloon Machine Presents’ on Monday 15 July. Tickets are just £6.
