Basht. come flying out of the burgeoning Irish music scene with their debut album ‘Poor Advice’. ‘Dive’ kicks off the project with an unsettling feel given by a syncopated drum beat in the verses, at times becoming almost linear as the listener is left with little to hold on to, whilst the group introduce us to the world of darkness the album exists in. Frontman Jack Leavey wails “Let you down, get ready to dive”, as the guitars nose-dive into an effects-driven bridge, giving the track its soul and autonomy as the low, droning notes of the bass and guitar section lay down a heavy riff.

In ‘Keira Knightley’, the band’s second single from the record, the drums settle into more of a traditional rock groove, with the opening akin to ‘Seven Nation Army’ before the band delivers the catchiest moment on the record with the repeated chorus “Keira Knightley, Keira Knightley, Keira Knightley, Keira Knightley, Keira Knightley Keira”. Similarly, the euphoric ‘Terror TV’ calls back to a pretty traditional punk formula. The left-wing sentiment and punk rock riffs and speed are as if Green Day’s ‘American Idiot’ had aged better and been intertwined with the current Irish rockscape. These two songs together create a more poppy break from what is otherwise a record filled with unusual rhythmic patterns, eerie guitars, dark sounds and noise rock influence.

‘Superchurch’ comes next; echoey drums sound like they may have actually been recorded in some kind of huge church – such are the acoustics. What follows is an emotive release telling the story of its protagonists’ disillusionment with the Irish Catholic Church – a central theme of the album. So much so that calling it a concept album is not over the top. “That’s why I’m leaving this church, face my god like a man’ is the central argument on the standout track of the record.

Later on, ‘Moth’ is full of cathartic yet melancholic releases, whilst ‘Kids Vs Guns’ wastes no time in laying bare some of the most upsetting issues of modern times in their simplest form. The album’s closer ‘Poor Advice’ ends the project in style with a message of hope, that despite all the darkness it represents, there might still be good in the world – or put more elegantly in Jack Leavey’s words “In the darkest hour, there’s the flicker of the light, I know it’s not yet blinding, but it’ll get us through the night”. 

Basht.’s debut is a fantastically constructed concept album, not shy to lay it out as they see it, fittingly heavy, impressively succinct and leaving little to the imagination as it lays the failings of the church, the state and society bare. 

8/10