LIVE AT THIRD MAN RECORDS (VINYL)

Known best as the frontman of Scottish arty punks the Country Teasers, Ben Wallers has been expanding his smart and avant-garde deconstruction of punk music as The Rebel. With these songs, there is distinct focus on the state of being on the outside looking in.

This is not music burdened by the hustle and bustle; rather, it's measured and critical and feels rooted outside city pressure. The songs are characterized musically by drum machine and synth stabs with loose-handed guitar, that is to say desolate and questioning. On the b-side, "Why Must I Pay" carries a biting critique; all macrostructures, not just punk or music, come into a disassembling, blinding spotlight - healthcare, monetary systems, humankind's "gains."
Leave preconceived notions at the door and take notes.