‘A woman at the window, Beating her head against the glass, Yellow light casting shadows, Translucent to crimson red, Making cracks – crying out for a savior’ (Bird To Woman)

Hailing from Cincinnati, and featuring Cole Gilfilen of Corker and The Drin, Hopscotch Fever is the debut album from Artificial Go.  And while, initially, the palette can strike as quite spartan, it gradually reveals itself to be a delightfully rich melding of influences.  The bright, scratchy guitars and lock-step rhythm section speak to the band’s garage punk base that is then accented with flourishes of post-punk angularity and a decidedly off-kilter pop sensibility.

Angie Willcutt’s arresting vocals add a further intriguing dimension as they sweep seamlessly from the kookily detached to the austerely melodic.  And with a keen eye for the absurd, the band draw us into a surreally evoked tableau that explores the artificial expectations and pressures that colour and distort our lives.  Highlights range from the tautly catchy On Off and the delightfully unhinged Artificial Go to, perhaps, my personal stand out, the darkly infectious closer Bird To Woman.