If you are over the age of 27, you remember the time when buying clothes from the thrift store was cool. You remember when your favorite band only played in basements, VA halls, and of course that weird obscure venue that also served as a punk flop house. Flyers were made at the local photo copier store, or in your high school art department.
I remember those times. I remember when bands used to only put out vinyl or tapes and you can only get these releases from the show merch table, or through a distro of the “zine” your friends put out. Those were times when you REALLY needed to be a fan of the music, or have cool friends that would make you mix tapes of these bands. It was a time when music was intimate. When members of the band were the guy you went to school with, or skated with, or worked at your local pizza place. Simpler, intimate times.
Mothman brings back those memories for me. Their sound is one of the early nineties post punk/hardcore/emotional/screamo scene. Mixing smart poetic lyrics, complex guitar riffs, and breakdowns that really bring forth emotion, memories, and rage; raw hardcore.
I was a big fan of the emotional hardcore scene, a real guilty pleasure of mine. I really like this album, like I said it brought back so many memories of my youth. The opening song 'I Shot An Arrow' really punches, the lyrics, an obscure manic sonnet to an abusive relationship. It continues into following tracks, hitting you straight in the gut and mind. Proboscis is the girl you had a crush on and crushed your heart. The people that told you “You would never be good enough”, the album is a living emotion. Emotion full of disparity, but has the hope to overcome. This album is passion.
Proboscis is an album that most will not enjoy, as the post punk era time, I think has long faded out with thrift store t-shirts and thick rimmed black glasses. BUT, this album is for people who still want the feeling. The passion of a band that puts all their hearts into an album and it shows. This album is a must for anyone who is still holding on to the time when you didn’t need to be a big rock star, have a gimmick, wear makeup, or have a cool light show. You just needed to have a love of what you do and no matter where you played; an audience of four or 4000. You went up on that stage and poured your heart, blood, and sweat all into the music.
