MINI REVIEW: Six Finger Satellite - Half Control

From their dance-y and abrasive debut, The Pigeon Is the Most Popular Bird (1993) to their most inverted and challenging album, Law of Ruins (1998), Six Finger Satellite were continually evolving and becoming a tighter song writing entity. Half Control, an album recorded back in 2001, remained unreleased for over half a decade. It does not pick up where the seedy hypnotism of Law of Ruins left off. Yet, for a band that has gone through so many lineup changes, and with an album that departs from the soundscapes of their last full-length, any 6FS fan could tell you that they have definitely maintained their unique style. Half Control has all the rhythm and repetition of a mid-90s Six Finger Satellite album, with extreme accessibility to boot. With confirmed reunion shows planned and even an Austin appearance (info tba, sometime around SXSW), perhaps the long interval between the recording and the release of the new album will prove to be an unintentional benefit that garners interest from old and new fans alike. Honestly, they’ve influenced about a bajillion rad bands, they’ve toured with Shellac, and their video for “Parlour Games” (Severe Exposure, 1995) was on an episode of Beavis and Butthead - and if all that doesn’t sell it, my work here must be done.