Sometime Tunabunny drummer Jesse Stinnard has recently released his first record under his Antlered Aunt Lord moniker. Titled Ostensibly Formerly Stunted and released on the HHBTM label, it’s a mixture of his own lo-fi and very much DIY recordings that Stinnard culled from a bank of almost 200.
His reputation (locally) as something of eccentric transports itself through the recordings of Antlered Aunt Lord, which at points seems to lean towards grunge/US alt-rock such as Sugar, but then veer towards The Beach Boys (check the harmonies on Monopilot), the next thing, this eclectic mix of electric folk and Pavement and Guided by Voices and, well, just about everything in between. The rough hue of the recording (more evident on some tracks than others) only adds to the charm as they somehow hold together as a whole.
Despite all of its frayed edge messiness, Ostensibly Formerly Stunted is more than enjoyable because of Stinnard’s quirky nature, his lyrical content, and his skillful handling of melody (damn, he can write a catchy tune) The only downside is that (as with a lot of these recordings) some of the songs are little more than ideas- Munsonfly and EPA are good examples. Enjoyable as they are, they could have been so much more.
When he gets it right though, the results are worth it. The brilliant Krautrock Motorik of Pray for Glam is brilliant, and Questions from our Publicist, apart from having a brilliant title, hints at 90s slacker rock, and is deliciously catchy. There’s some fantastic Pixies-esque loud/quiet interplay, with a liberal dose of synths in Hi Beam Hi Priest, and the weird Fall-like Sciatica is great.
With some 180 songs still in the vault, this could be the start of something big.
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