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Title: Their noise doesn't annoy
Review: The Willowz may have got themselves into a tricky position. Too shamelessly postpunk for musical dabblers, you say, yet too averse to 100 percent thrash 'n' thump for hardcore punk fans? Perhaps. But that leaves a lot of listeners, and for us, "Talk in Circles" is an addictive record. Its 60-plus minutes come at you in fierce little waves, with peerlessly yowling vocals over arrangements incorporating elements of free jazz, country, folk, da blooz, and (lest we forget) large dollops of thrash 'n' thump. And it's all delivered (and produced) with the kind of sharply focused garage-rock clamor a band just can't fake. The lyrics express various shades of self-doubt, frustration, and disappointment, but the music signals the band's fierce determination to survive. On the basis of "Talk in Circles," I think they will.
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