Unschooling - Random Acts of Total Control EP Review
Following their 2019 album, which fell mostly under the radar, this new EP, Random Acts of Total Control leads the French four-piece into a higher energy sound.
Jangly, angular and frantic, Unschooling is one of the latest bands to dive into the booming revival of post-punk. Following their 2019 album, Defensive Designs, which fell mostly under the radar, this new EP, Random Acts of Total Control leads the French four-piece into a higher energy sound, and they are much better off for it. Going into such a saturated scene, Unschooling sound somewhat familiar, following a lot of the sonic tropes already explored by other post-punk bands, but just doing them really well.
‘More is More’, the opener, rips the EP open with driving drumming and energetic rhythm guitar, before an Omni-like guitar riff dances its way over the top. The high-tempo throughout this track is a real opportunity for the band to show off their merits as musicians, with the drummer giving a particularly stellar performance, keeping the staccato percussion tight as the song’s intensity reaches its climax. The yelped vocals are at times a little difficult to make out in the mix, but this also allows the guitar work to take centre stage — which is no bad thing here.
The jerking, fast-paced beat that kicks off ‘Boo Boo Dragon’ follows this, jumping straight into the energy without warning from the first second. While breaking from traditional guitar/bass/drums instrumentation, the cowbell and saxophone are still fairly established instrumental add-ons in the genre. However, what makes this song particularly interesting are the tempo and chord changes throughout, jumping from one to another fairly seamlessly several times throughout the track. In a way, it reflects the title of the EP, randomly transitioning through these phases while retaining an impressive amount of control over the sound. The jerking sound of the beat is matched by vocals somewhat reminiscent of David Byrne, but possibly with a little less of his vocal charisma — the track is really carried by the instrumental.
‘Social Chameleon’ was the first single released ahead of this EP, and accordingly is about the most normal-sounding that Unschooling get here. However, that’s still set against a track with an unconventional song structure and a changing time signature; experimentation is clearly an element the band are particularly keen to push into their songwriting. This track transitions without pause to breathe into ‘No Shoes’. At this transition, with the changes in tempo and time signature laden throughout each track, it’s hard to tell that we’ve entered a new track — it could just as easily have been a new passage of the same song. ‘No Shoes’, nonetheless, stands out as the darkest and most manic track on the album, building into a wall of noise at its climax. The fast-slow-fast of this track is slightly akin to The Garden – with the vocals reflecting theirs too – but with the usual angular, post-punky sound found throughout the EP.
We are then carried by a thick, prominent bass line into the closer, ‘NYE’, as it swings around below the guitar, before being given a crunchy little solo. The beat here is driving, as if each instrument is racing towards the end of the track, but with each taking some sonically scenic detours along the way before coming together towards the tense climax, accompanied now by some cushioning synths. It’s really disappointing though how here, as across much of the EP, the vocals fail to make a stand, not competing at all with the instrumentation at any point in its runtime.
Despite the disappointing placement of the vocals, this EP certainly has a lot to shout about, really showcasing each of the members impressive musicianship and their willingness to push the boat out with multi-phased tracks and time signature changes. The sound definitely wears the influence of others in its genre openly on its sleeve, but it also pushes the sound a lot further than comparable bands like Omni and Crack Cloud. That said, it will be hard for the band to make a huge splash with this sound considering the wealth of bands doing a similar thing, albeit often a little worse than here, and it would have been interesting seeing them stick to their roots with French language lyrics — especially with France really lacking music like this.
