Video: NORMANS, ‘Anti-Crusoe’

Kevin Bronson on December 12th, 2023

0

“NORMANS,” the self-titled album from the South Bay rock band going by that name, does not play nice. It is at turns dark, menacing, ear-splitting and chaotic, or all of that at once, and fully lives up to its claim to be a dissection of “the terrified animal caged within us all.” It should just come with an all-purpose DANGER sign.

NORMANS is the brainchild of Matthew Reid (Blonde Summer) and Michael Perry Rudes (FEELS), who, legend has it, hatched the idea while stranded on a broken-down boat off the coast of Los Angeles. They are now joined by Kyle Souza and Collin Fish.

They first introduced the single “Anti-Crusoe” in 2021, so the Reid-directed new video for the song is something of a do-over. It comes with a warning that its content includes suicide ideation.

“Murder Rich” is similarly doomy, only as a bass line-propelled agit-punk screed. “You’re a car going over the cliff,” it harangues as it vivisects the relentless pursuit of money. “Bending the Branch,” the other single released from the album so far, is laced with riffs and distortion, white-knuckle punk with tunnel-like breakdowns that, like “NORMANS” in its entirety, challenges the listener to confront the hard stuff and rewards that effort with pure adrenaine.

The album is out Jan. 12 via Solid Brass Records.

||| Watch: the videos for “Anti-Crusoe” and “Murder Rich”