UVH

Debut release from Twin Bitches singer/songwriter Larry Llodra's new outfit UVH, Last Fruit blasts off with "PS," bashing Seventies proto-punk. Clanging chords and a pulse-pounding 4/4 throb achieve the perfect balance of ear-bending melody and garage rock clamor. That scruffy CBGB appearance may be deceiving, however. The rest of the EP skips forward a couple decades to plunge deep into the depths of alternative nation indie rock. Warmly dissonant jangle-fuzz and nervous propulsion drive "Innervisions," belying the introspection in the title, and "Flood" swims through a river of grunge and young adult angst. Llodra's bleary-eyed rasp sounds genetically engineered for this latter styling, and his songwriting and stout conviction sell the songs without any hint of the irony that drowned the era originally. Soaked in distorted melody by way of self-expression rather than nostalgia, Last Fruit drips heart.