Taiwan Housing Project‘s track “Authentic Alien Perfume” harkens back to the days when Punk Rock was still expected to leave a sonic bruise on our collective psyche. These days Indie’s more sanitized version of the genre might get the pose and style right, but it’s often sorely lacking the guts to leave a truly lasting impression. That is not the case, however, for Kilynn Lunsford (Little Claw/Luxury Prevention) and Mark Feehan‘s (Broken Talent/Harry Pussy) band Taiwan Housing Project.
Lunsford explained to Noisey this week that she met the ex-Harry Pussy guitarist while playing under her solo moniker Luxury Prevention in Philadelphia–waylaid there after a 9-month visit to Thailand–and that her musical interactions with Feehan were “effortlessly inventive” from day one. The group has grown in size since those initial meetings, adding drummer Pat Ganley and bassist Adam Cooper to the band, as well as Kevin Boyer (Tyvek) and Kevin Nickles (Writhing Squares). Taiwan Housing Project is getting set to release their debut LP Veblen Death Mask on May 5th via Kill Rock Stars, and today we give an ear-scraping listen to their track “Authentic Alien Perfume.”
Sweet and salty in one hot mess, this cut drops a sugary bass/drum groove inside a slow motion car crash of whirling guitar noise while a sleazy throb of horn sets an eerie, red light mood. Lunsford’s panic inducing vocals have the ability to out scream even the loudest squeals of guitar here, and a howl from her only adds to the pile-up as this track spins out in a noisy wreck across the gravel. A harrowing and bruising ride to be sure, the singer said it all this week when she explained to Noisey:
“Ultimately, my intention isn’t to ease people into this. I want to assault them. I want to rob them of levity. It may not seem that way all of the time because my songs are varied in mood. However, what sonics don’t achieve, confusion will. People often feel affronted and besieged by what they don’t understand, and that’s where I want my creations to exist.”
