Vintage Review: Pujol’s Nasty, Brutish, and Short EP (2011)

If one were to scratch out a blueprint for the archetypal indie-rock band, Nashville’s Pujol would be the result. Founded by singer, guitarist, and songwriter Daniel Pujol – the only constant in a group that included the Police’s Stewart Copeland at one time – the band that bears his name has made a lot of influential friends in a short period of time. In two years, Pujol has released ten different recordings, including the full-length X File On Main Street album, released by a variety of pureblood indie labels including Jack White’s Third Man Records and Infinity Cat (JEFF the Brotherhood’s imprint).

For Pujol’s Saddle Creek Records debut, the Nasty, Brutish, and Short EP, they build upon their trademark, Southern-bred, garage-punk rock ‘n’ roll with elements of 1960s-vintage British Invasion and 1970s-era power-pop sounds. The opening track “Mayday” starts out with a blur, a Beatlesque “Helter Skelter” riff leaping headfirst into a chaotic swirl of distorted and contorted instrumentation. Somehow the song manages to hold onto its underlying melody, probably due to Pujol’s playful vocals and the adrenalin O.D. of the singer’s whip-smart lyrics.

The following “Scully” doesn’t fare as well, although it’s by no means a bad song…the melody here is lofty, vague, and undefined while the crush of the instrumentation and Pujol’s smarty-pants garage-rock sneer makes for an invigorating, if shockingly intense, listen. The jangly flash-bang of “Emotion Chip (No Feeling)” hides a lyrical treasure beneath its broken heart and razor-wire guitar lines. Pujol’s pleading vocals barely emerge from the mix, bouncing tearfully in between Duane Eddy-styled surf ‘n’ turf riffs and unrelenting rhythms that crash and bash reminiscent of the Replacements on a good night.

Nasty, Brutish, and Short closes with “Stuff” and “Point of View,” two humdingers of unique style and manic creativity. The former offers a swaggering, sweaty barrage of words and rhythm, a too-brief explosion of noise and frantic emotion with shots of wiry fretwork levied across the mix as the vocals march to their own (different) drummer. The latter takes the “wall of sound” concept found throughout the EP to a higher level – you’d need a backhoe to dig out all of Pujol’s lyrics here, but it’s all just so damn much fun that you won’t care. A barely-present melody acts as the glue holding the song together as madhouse guitars sparkle and instruments chime like the bastard children of the Byrds, R.E.M. and Let’s Active, a simply delightful musical moment that buries itself into your medulla oblongata like a chigger and refuses to let go.

The entirety of Nasty, Brutish, and Short runs just eighteen minutes from start to finish, a reckless, barely-contained joy ride that manages to sound contemporary even while absorbing and channeling so much of rock’s hallowed past. If Pujol is the new sound of the south, count me in as a fan. (Saddle Creek Records, released August 19, 2011)

Review originally published by Blurt magazine