Fuzzed-out garage is the norm in the local LA scene, but sometimes don’t you wish those guitars sounded sparkling and vibrant? Palisades quintet DEBT are ones who focus on evoking melody over discord, and the over-too-quickly six minutes that makes up their EP Iceland hits with both slick precision and hooks that are right on the surface. Circling arpeggios and minor-key chords abound over breakneck drum patterns, dominated by a melliflous approach reminiscent of mid-eighties SST Records. For those of us who may be coming up on thirty shortly like myself, it does bring back the good ol’ days of MTV 2 when it actually meant something. Only time will tell if DEBT ends up changing the life of some youngster whose just discovering his or her favorite band. But as their still-nascent discography proves, they’re certainly doing their homework by working from some fine sources.
