So it’s happened. Strange Cages have released their debut EP, Ego Killer on Drastic Decline Records. Over its four tracks Ego Killer ranges from neo-psych, motorik, indie and lo-fi garage rock, but all garnished with Strange Cages’ rich and vibrant sound.

Lead singer Charlie McConnochie recently said, “Our past recordings have always been very raw – which is obviously fine. This time around we wanted to make something that sounded bigger and had more noise to it as well as keeping the rawness in there. I think we achieved that and we're all really happy with the EP”. The EP was recorded at Hermitage Works Studios at Manor House with producer, and Drastic Decline Records head honcho, Margo Broom. McConnochie said of working with Broom, “Margo was great, I don't think I'd go to anyone else now. She was completely involved in the whole thing and it's really encouraging to work with a producer like that. I know the kind of sound I want from recording, but I find it hard to actually get it down. Margo helped to pull it out of my head.”

The EP opens with title track ‘Ego Killer’. Mercury-tinged guitar, throbbing bass and frenetic drums welcome us, like when you bump into an old friend in a pub. They hug you, take you by the elbow, lead you to their table and then begins a night of catching up and merry making. Due to the nature of the music Strange Cages make, ‘Ego Killer’ does feel like an old friend and the more times you play it, this becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Lead single ‘Bam Bam Boom’ is up next. And like ‘Ego Killer’ you are whisked away for three and a half minutes through bowel-loosening bass, unrelenting drumming and guitars that are hard to ignore!

Given that McConnochie says their influences are, “A lot of kraut and motorik influence and there's also Captain Beefheart and a bit of Hawkind in there. I don't know if anyone will hear that or not though? Lyrically, I like to write stuff that sounds twisted and paranoid.” These themes of paranoia come to the fore in the EP’s latter stages. Ego Killer closes with a duo of song that show that Strange Cages have a softer, more tender side. ‘Jealous Over You’ sounds like classic Jefferson Airplane, but with biting sardonic lyrics. ‘If You’re Leaving Me Cold’, like ‘Jealous Over You’ instead of insidiously visceral guitars, this time they are subtle and it’s McConnochie’s lyrics that are the main event. It’s an apt way to end the EP and hints that in the future Strange Cages might be delivering more of this kind of reflective garage rock.

Ultimately Ego Killer is the sound of a young band working out how to write songs full of the vim and vigour that they themselves feel. Yes there are moments on the EP when you can see, and hear, their inexperience, but this isn’t a bad thing, oh no, for you can almost hear their collective minds saying, “Oh, that’s how it all works!” The future looks bright for Strange Cages. If all goes well, we should be expecting albums based on dreams. McConnochie recounts one that would give any prog band a run of their money, in just the concept states, “I once had a dream that I saw my girlfiend digging her own grave. She was so high she was screaming lasers of joy. I don't think it was on earth though, because the sky was a dark pink. I'm hoping we'll get an album out of that.”

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Nick Roseblade