Matrimony, "Flee Or Fight"

The significant other and I had the privilege of seeing Matrimony play a couple of songs this weekend. Wonders of the Internet age: I bought their EP, "The Storm & The Eye" with my phone in the auditorium, though I felt a little guilty about doing it that way and hope they didn't need the cash I didn't have for a CD in the lobby in order to put gas in the van to get wherever they were hieing to for their next gig.

Jimmy Brown hails from Belfast and Ashlee Hardee Brown turns out to be a local girl from my hometown; live, their sound is filled out by Hardee Brown's brothers and drummer Alex Watson. CJ Hardee is particularly worth mentioning for his wonderfully aggressive banjo picking (who needs an electric guitar?) but the band's live sound is worth checking out if they're ever in your area, even if the clip above doesn't sell you on buying the record (you should totally buy the record); live, they have a bit of folk-punk thrash that reminds me a little of The Builders And The Butchers, while the EP (although excellent--did I mention you should buy it?) has a few tender moments where it sounds like they were afraid of knocking over one of those expensive pieces of studio gear. The bio at the website says they're working on new music: I look forward to it, but do hope they cut loose a little more.