Review: Man of a Thousand Faces’ Love is an Enema

Man of a Thousand Faces’ new single Love is an Enema hits like a slap you didn’t see coming but thoroughly deserved. Clocking in at a lean, mean two minutes and 42 seconds, the Perth band’s latest tale of romantic submission is delivered eyes wide open over a feral, carnival-cabaret strain of garage punk.

Frontman Laith Tierney rides the chaos, barking out lyrics with the sleaze of a lounge singer who’s lost his lease and the swagger of a man with little time to read the fine print. His vocal command is no surprise given two-plus decades in and around the Perth music scene, but it’s his commitment to constant reinvention, as the project’s name suggests, that always delights. Musically, it’s controlled chaos at its best: squirrelly, unhinged guitars slam against a three-piece horn section riding a pummelling rhythm section, all held together by engineer Ron Pollard. The result plays like The Cramps gatecrashing a B-52’s house party, brass stabs sharp enough to draw blood, echoing Aussie punk originators The Saints.

Available now on Bandcamp and Subvert, Love is an Enema is fast, filthy, and fun enough that you won’t stop to wonder what made ten gentlemen drive to a North Dandalup studio to record a song about kink. But perhaps the answer is right there in the title. This track’s not going to solve anything in your love life, but if you want rock ‘n’ roll with a wink, a sneer, and a little bodily discomfort thrown in, this hits exactly where it’s aimed.

MICHAEL HOLLICK