Four-track EP ‘Inertia’ is the debut EP from Cork based Perish, the brainchild of Australian musician and producer Ciaran Corcoran.

Released on 9th February via Bandcamp through Cork City based label Sunshine Cult Records (available for streaming and purchase here), the release was previewed by Terror Swimming; a fuzzy, reverb-soaked noise-pop cut marked by metallic, stratospheric guitar voicings and obscured vocals that hark back to ‘Isn’t Anything’ era My Bloody Valentine and relentless, Krautrock-inspired rhythms.

A fitting mission statement then, as ‘Inertia’ itself opens with the washed-out, deceptively dissonant Vision, a song that unveils what is surely Corcoran’s secret weapon – that of the hidden hook. On first listen, the mumbled vocal melody seems to almost fight against the chugging, atonal riffage and minimal drumbeat before throwing a phantom jab in the form of a chord progression that reveals itself to tie the sum of all parts together and lend a melody that you didn’t realise was there the whole time, buried in all the ramshackle.

The EP truly carves its niche on its third (and title) track. Carried by and drawing the listener in with a repetitious groove, clamorous guitars fade in and out of view over a constant rhythm and alien-like vocals. Closer No Time is an instrumental driven by a motorik beat and coloured with reverse-reverbrated guitars.

Throughout the EP, vocals are treated as a mere instrument than as a channel through which ideas are communicated or emotions are conveyed. They are present here to add to the drone, the sleepy tone used by Corcoran a signifier of the hypnosis the music seeks to induce.

As a debut piece, ‘Inertia’ is solid. Perish successfully craft a soporific quartet of psychedelic, impressionistic tunes and effectively, one of the more sonically intriguing EPs thus far in 2018 with proven replay value, revealing more to its listeners with each listen.