Baby In Vain

For The Kids EP

Written by: TL on 06/05/2016 12:53:37

While the Danish music scene has a few all-female rock trios to pick from now (the others that come to mind being Velvet Volume and Nelson Can), it is Baby In Vain that currently seem to have the most wind in their sails, having just released their debut EP "For The Kids" while getting announced as the support act for The Kills on a number of their EU tour dates. And while the members are barely in their twenties, the success is not unwarranted as both the band's live performances and now the new EP will attest to.

Baby In Vain plays a crawling, intentionally dirty sounding, grungy, heavy rock, where riffs, atmosphere, and attitude reign supreme. Classic heavy bands like Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath no doubt rummage in the cabinet of influences, marking the band as probably one of the most stoner-rock reminiscent female bands around. You hear this from the very beginning as the churning guitar gets "Martha's View" going before the members get an eerie chanted harmony going in the verse. From here we slowly crawl towards some riff worship that takes the place of an actual chorus, and as the bass grinds and the guitar wails increasingly as the track escalates, you get a feeling of 'back to the primal roots' slow and heavy rock quality.

Meanwhile, the vocal work is, as mentioned, mainly attitude-filled, both in delivery and lyricism. And perhaps the main weakness of Baby In Vain is that as badass and rebellious as they may be as persons, the vocals still carry notes of young girls' voices, occasionally breaking the spell a bit and making you think of teenagers imitating their idols in their parents' garage. Most of the time, however, Baby In Vain overpower such notions because of how wholesome and confident their songs sound, making you rather take an interest in what kind of malcontent and frustrations that fuel the creativity of these three young minds. What do they mean by "Mandatory make belief", and what's that about keeping chemicals in the backyard, you wonder, listening to the chunky grind of "Muscles".

Later on, "The Urge" shows that despite them relying mainly on proven rock traditions, these ladies are not scared of some synth, channeling a bit of kraut into their soundscape with equal success. Closing track "Jesusfreaks" seals the deal nicely: Despite it having perhaps the most intentionally dodgy vocals, it builds nicely to a shrill "Jesus will sleep with the fishes tonight!" before engaging in more delightfully brazen riffage to close the release.

The only thing that can go wrong with listening to Baby In Vain is that you zoom in on the vocals and have your mind go to images of posturing teenagers. If you consider all elements of the EP together, however, the trio feels more real than just a posture, and at large the idea of keeping an eye on how the band develops on future releases feels like a no-brainer.

Download: Jesusfreaks, Martha's View, Muscles
For The Fans Of: The Kills, Wolf Alice, Velvet Volume
Listen: facebook.com/babyinvain

Release date 29.04.2016
Partisan Records

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