screature: four columns

Screature’s second album Four Columns opens with shimmering guitar and incantation... and then it flies. Chris Orr’s atmospheric guitar is a cool companion to Liz Mahoney’s haunting vocals; Sarah Scherer’s keys swirl to Miranda Vera’s insistent beat; it’s all brought to now by Chris Woodhouse’s excellent production. Call it dark psychedelia or post-punk black, Screature’s Four Columns is a creeping zodiac of sound. Screature came to life in 2008, in a dark corner of Sacramento, California. They spent three years making music in secret, wintering to Rudimentary Peni and Chrome, summering to Music Machine and PiL. In 2011, they played their first show, with Death Grips. And then hit the stage with White Lung, Chain & the Gang, Wounded Lion, Milk Music, TV Ghost and others. 2013 saw their debut LP flash through the sky (now back in print on S-S Records). D. Yudt called it the “feel-bad record of the year.” It landed in Chelsea Wolfe’s Pitchfork year-end “Best Of.” As good as the self-titled Screature is, Four Columns is better. The songs “Down Boys,” “Half Past Midnight,” and “Lost Ones” are already live hits; on record they rule other worlds. From front to back, Four Columns intoxicates.