In or around 2500 BC ancient Egyptian artists settled on blue, rare and expensive blue, as the only colour befitting their gods. Casting the common blacks, browns and reds aside, they struck out in search of a lasting, beautiful blue – and stumbled on what we now know as Egyptian blue, a rich pigment still vivid several centuries down the line.
It is from this hallowed tint that a raucous Brighton-based four piece have taken their name, strutting snottily through a frenetic melange of Joy Division and Fugazi on debut EP Collateral Damage, released 21st of June on Yala! Records.
It is from this hallowed tint that a raucous Brighton-based four piece have taken their name, strutting snottily through a frenetic melange of Joy Division and Fugazi on debut EP Collateral Damage, released 21st of June on Yala! Records.
Egyptian Blue made an early impact with lead single 'To Be Felt', an insidious cacophony of dark guitars and wandering basslines with a bruising chorus which taps into the roaring trade done by the current crop of post-punk rascals like Idles and Fontaines DC. The sound gained airplay from the likes of Huw Stephens, Steve Lamacq and Tom Ravenscroft and it's more of the same on the other three tracks of their maiden EP.
Collateral Damage barely deviates from the bass-led formula of sparse verses crashing into avalanche choruses and that's no bad thing when it's executed this well. Maybe a full-length LP of the stuff might get a little exhausting but the knack of going from 0 to 100 so easily is one which other bands take a lifetime to master. The choppy, pleasingly disorientating 'Contain It' sparkles with fuzzy guitar lines, 'Collateral' is a hypnotic creeper with a frenzied chorus plea of 'if you love me you would stay at home' and when it comes to the uncompromising 'Adderall' the band presumably mistook the track-list entry fields for the Google search bar.
It seems a bit rich to compare Egyptian Blue to pharaohs – their regal blue is severely muddied by just those abrasive hues the ancient artists tried to avoid – but in a world of royal babies and gingham tablecloths do we really need another polished sovereign indie act? Probably not. Do we need a shot of borderline psychotic joy? Hell yes.
Words - Joe Ponting
Egyptian Blue official
Collateral Damage is out June 21st on Yala Records