I have a bottomless love for Discount that no one I've ever met has matched. Together with Lifetime, they were the band that defined my high school years - I took up songs like "Disappointed" and "On the Counter" and made them my own; they were the soundtrack for my adolescent late nights. If I had been in a wistful pop punk band when I was seventeen, I would've no doubt penned at least one cutesy love song to Alison Mosshart. (Instead, I sang for hardcore bands and got punched in the face several times.)
And so, when I first heard Lemuria, I'll admit that Discount was the first band I thought of. The connection is easy enough to make: Lemuria play upbeat, catchy punk-pop tunes and have a wicked female vocalist (although the whole trio sings) who sounds like a slightly more nasal Mosshart. The layout's even a bit reminiscent of the Discount discography CDs. But, as ever, it's not that simple. Lemuria has a bit too much of an indie edge (I hate to describe it that way, but you hopefully know what I mean) to reflect the early Discount singles, and they don't really sound like Crash Diagnostic either (not quite Fugazian enough). It's more like Discount circa "Slant Invention" or "Antiseptic" shot up with vintage Superchunk. And that fucking rules, okay?
The lyrics are really worth noting too. "The Origamists" paints a portrait of insatiable sexuality that's uncomfortably intimate and worthy of Blake Schwarzenbach (it wouldn't have been out of place on Unfun). "Trivial Greek Mythology" earns a thousand bonus points from the history nerd in me for referencing steel magnate Andrew Carnegie, and ends with the brilliant and Devo-evoking line, "What are you doing with a potato like me?" (This also reminded me of the end of "Disappointed", when Mosshart laments, "I extended my love to you but instead you used your extension cord.") The vocal tradeoffs really make these songs, making them sound like genuine conversational quarrels.
My biggest gripe with this record is that it's too damn short. I want more; but of course that's the point. The object of the EP is to get in, deliver the best chunk of anthemic noise you can, and leave them clamoring for seconds. So here's my clamoring. I'm already in line for the Lemuria LP.
