Help! She Can’t Swim - ‘Midnight Garden’ (Fantastic Plastic) Released 13/03/06

Somewhere in the flurry of thrashing drums and disjointed guitars that opens ’Midnight Garden’ there are some audible lyrics, we promise you. At the moment Gigwise can only make out the word ‘thirteen’ but we are sure that eventually others will make themselves obvious to us. At this point though it doesn’t matter for the visceral experience that is Help! She Can’t Swim’s latest offering is impressive enough with just the sounds keeping us enthralled. Now that Test Icicles are set to depart for good thank god HSCS are here to fill the breach and take up the mutant schizo-punk mantle that London trio have left behind. The beats and staccato hardcore riffs are incessant bar a twenty second interlude of ethereal breath taking in the middle giving us just enough time to prepare for the final assault. We just wish they'd provided a translation of vocals so we could tell you what the hell they are singing about.