United Waters

***As we here at Bathetic Records have been uber-fans of the massive MOUTHUS for years, it comes with great pride to release this record from UNITED WATERS, headed up by BRIAN SULLIVAN and rounded out by CHRIS SHIELDS and PATRICK COLE. While this is a quieter, more subtle beast than Mouthus, there’s still the same type of burned, frayed energy at work here. What this record is is a unique brand of challenging psychedelia, equal parts pop and cement truck. Each track is approached with a true-blue pop styling, melodic vocals, hooky guitar licks… but when filtered through the gray and tan haze, it comes out warped and warbled, drifting at its own accord. It’s always hard to compare artists to other artists, and the act of doing so is always a little silly, but people like having reference points… The way United Waters works, it’s almost if you took a Kurt Vile, The Dead C, and Grouper and locked them all in a room full of incense smoke and Old Style and said “do the damn thing.” A burner collage of loner riffs, detached vocals, and meandering beats comes forth. When it all links up, wraps around each other, and flow from the speakers. Received a 7.7 rating from Pitchfork.