Worlds Worst

American Muscle (Smoking Room)
by Scott Deckman

Yeah, there are tropes here (grizzled, grumpy critic gets it out of the way): the goddamn Jazzmaster, forced irony, bad grammar, cringy website, but on American Muscle, upcoming Salt Lake City band Worlds Worst succeeds despite it all. Given the record’s name and the fact they had a song called “Challenger” on their debut album, the band also seems to love muscle cars, which is great, though given a pic posted on their Instagram, probably not the correct era. Can’t have it all.

Worlds Worst plays indieish alt-rock (I know, labels, but these are the dystopian days of 1s and 0s) and trade in mid-paced thick slabs of guitars while peddling shifting dynamics. Singer Andrew Aronson’s somnambulant voice can be interpreted as lethargic, but it’s part of the band’s sound. It also favors Page Hamilton. 

Opener “Worldsworst” has some sub-shoegazy aurality, a Hum vibe going on with barely discernible back-up vocals tacked onto the last third of the song (to be honest, the chorus isn’t very clear, either; a second admission, this whole album sounds like Hum). Last year’s stand-alone single, “Motor Mouth,” makes an appearance on American Muscle, and like this record’s singles “Angus” and “Gas Hands,” shows the band in rock mode. “Units” lays the guitar gazing hammer down at times, and at others, just lopes along, while follower “Interlude” is the band’s “Last Ride In,” with a downer funhouse ending.

“Cannonball” slows things down, and like on closer “Rockets,” features the band’s deft use of pitch oscillation and phrasing. These tunes also show the boys may’ve been listening to prime Modest Mouse (as do, to a lesser extent, other songs on the release), and serve as an interesting coda to a strong sophomore rock record.

The band is touring, which is good. Given the costs these days, even a short cross-country run is impressive, but the young fellas are probably having the time of their lives (sure, you’re thinking, for all we know one of them is about to get the Jason Everman treatment). 

Check out these guitar-slinging SLC punks if you’re feelin lucky.

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