Josh Kolm
EDITOR EMERITUS


White Lung – Sorry (Deranged)





A lazy writer would compare White Lung’s sophomore effort to X’s classic Los Angeles.

Vocalist mish Way’s singing does have some parallel’s to Exene Cervenka’s, but that’s where the similarities end, and even there it’s a stretch. Way’s vocals are more tough-as-nails, accomplishing the difficult feat of conveying power and authority while staying in a fairly high vocal regis- ter. The chords are more Bad Religion than Ramones, coming from a definite hardcore background.

Sorry is an album more emblematic of punk rock on the west coast of Canada than of the (needless) sub-categorization of female-fronted punk.

A better comparison would be to White Lung’s east coast counterparts— Sorry borrows more from hardcore, garage and surf than the often pop-punk, alt-rock and folk leanings that Ontarians favour. But the twist in the west coast scene, and the thing that White lung exemplifies and absolutely nails on Sorry, is that touch of melody that is weaved seamlessly into the onslaught without slowing it down.

Clocking in at eight songs and 19 minutes long, Sorry is fast and unrelenting, swaying gracefully from breakneck openers like “Take The Mirror,” to wailing anger on “St. Dad,” and wrenching passion on “Bag.” An idle listen makes it seem like an album that is the sum of done-before parts, but taking it seriously really shows that White Lung made one of the year’s best punk albums by making hardcore beautiful.