Album Review: Box Jellys – Smack

West Yorkshire outfit the Box Jellys have firmly established themselves in their local scene and the festival circuit over the past decade, the quartet are now set to release their debut full length “Smack” via Leeds based DIY label One Step Outside Records on the 4th October, the album follows up on “Fleabox” their 2018 split single with Flea Market. Box Jellys have come a long way since their lo-fi 2013 debut EP “Jimmy Cricket“, from the outset it’s clear that the disjointed summery stripped back sound of that release has been augmented with some serious fuzz.

“Smorgasbord” is an appropriate opening track for a band that blend indie, alternative, punk, grunge and garage into a hedonistic stew, from it’s overdriven introduction it ebbs and flows before giving way to the primal fuzzy stomp of “Bury Me“. “Smack” continues to drift between it’s influences, the ragged garage punk of “I Am A Dog” and the lo-fi “Only Human” keep you guessing as to what’s coming next, but by the half way point that is marked by the disjointed slow burner “Winston Smith” you surrender and just the let the “Smack” engulf you.

The second half of “Smack” continues in the same off kilter vein, if anything it becomes even more of a chaotic soundclash with influences and styles colliding randomly to create a truly unique soundtrack, one that embraces everything from the likes of The Fall and Mudhoney through to the Pixies and Pavement, and pretty much everything in-between. Whilst the emphasis is on the 90’s indie and alternative influences, it’s the fuzzy and ragged edges that drag the Box Jellys out of the time warp and shifts them into their own unique dimension.

The Box Jellys can be found on Bandcamp, Facebook, SoundCloud and Spotify

 “Smack” can be pre-ordered via One Step Outside Records here