The Community Chest
Reflections Through Corrugations
Independent
Reflections Through Corrugations is the standout track on The Community Chest’s new EP, Concrete. Using the history of submerged UK landmass Doggerland (which was permanently flooded by rising sea levels circa 6500–6200 BC) as an analogy for changing interpersonal relationships is quite a feat.
“Just imagine what’s underneath,” Dee Kerimofski intones in the spoken word verse. Snap.
The synth-pop supergroup describe it as an “attempt to create rural futurism in song form”, and her lead plus chanted group vocals in the chorus certainly usher in a new age in The Community Chest’s musical history.
Perhaps more than ever The Community Chest outgrow the perception that they’re a Turnstyle side project or solo vehicle for mainstay Adem K here. While live they fill a stage comfortably, the Casio kings have certainly borne similarities to Turnstyle on past recordings, thanks in large part to K’s distinctive sound.
In some ways the aforementioned ‘rural futurism’ makes this their twist on a family country band (K and Kerimofski are husband and wife), though musically it’s closer to a krautrock Grandaddy circa The Software Slump than Carter and Cash, with modernism reflected in the sparse sci-fi arrangement and brooding tension.
With Concrete said to be the first in a series of shorter, more frequent releases, it remains to be seen where this will take them next. For now, not only is this The Community Chest’s finest work to date, it’d have to be in conversation for best the WA song of the year.
HARVEY RAE
