ILLLS - Dark Paradise

These days we are inundated with such a mind-boggling array of new music that the curse of the snap-judgment sadly seems near unavoidable. Our first glimpse of London’s Sounds Of Sweet Nothing signing came in the shape of the video to ‘Teeth’. Two members of ILLLS lumber around a poorly lit supermarket clad in a palate of khaki and beige, and proceed to cook up a retch-inducing meal that would make your average student concoction seem positively Michelin star. The amount of hairs on that saucepan might be enough to warrant calling round Kim and Aggie of ‘How Clean Is Your House’ fame, but it’s also enough to set off other sirens. ILLLS appear attention seeking at first, seemingly reeling out the same tired gags that we saw from the likes of Tyler The Creator in that notorious ‘Yonkers’ video. In a crammed playing field, ILLLS seem to be resorting to shock tactics.

Not so fast. While our initial reflex might be to gag, ‘Dark Paradise’, the band’s debut EP, has thankfully been cooked up with far more care. If this EP really were a culinary offering, an inebriated Delia Smith would probably be storming down Lesbie Avenue by now in search of the same winning flavour combinations. With a pinch of flannel-clad grunge here, a dash of slightly oddball eccentricity there, ‘Dark Paradise’ marries noisenik garage rock with a hit of pop sensibility. It makes for a very appetising blend indeed – a far cry from the bowl of meaty slop we were subjected to in the ‘Teeth’ video.

ILLLS hail from Oxford, Mississippi in the US – and they do seem rather like the trendy American cousin of our own Oxford’s musical graduates Fixers and Trophy Wife. Opener ‘Bathroom Floor’ has a similar flavour to early Cure material, but repositioned stateside. There’s enough distorted guitar and frantically clashing cymbals to keep things untamable, but ILLLS also have an unmistakable ear for melody that sets them apart from a lot of the bands attempting to ‘do’ grunge at the moment. This comes through particularly well on ‘Teeth’ that, with its stop-start drums and soaring vocal lines that reach falsetto territory, is easily the strongest track on the EP. Melding good old fashioned American garage with the kind of off-kilter eccentricity that keeps life interesting means it’s likely this band will get very popular. Our first impressions might have raised the chunder warning flags left right and centre, but give ILLLS a try because they are really rather delicious.