The Italian Flag is more or less stunning from start to finish -- as with most of their work,
Prolapse combines atmospheric, almost shoegazing instrumental work with the deconstructive post-punk aesthetic of
the Fall,
Wire, or
Gang of Four, and makes this sound as seamless as either of its antecedents. The album's approach isn't quite as open or atmospheric as 1999's
Ghosts of Dead Aeroplanes, but it tends to rock more. Plenty of angular, fractured punk touches on the band's male/female vocal interplay, and a general tendency toward uptempo constructions, keep things direct and powerful for most of the collection. Along with releases by similarly organized shoegazing-meets-post-punk groups (
Long Fin Killie, at points), this almost creates its own subgenre, which has its borders at
Spacemen 3 and
Kitchens of Distinction on one end, and
Wire and
the Fall on the other. ~ Nitsuh Abebe