Music Review: Institute, Catharsis

By Less Lee Moore

Tell me who’s got a conscience that’s more pure / A servant of God or a girl they call a whore?
—Institute, “Christian Right”

If you didn’t know they were from Austin, Texas, you might assume that Institute was from the UK. On Catharsis, they’ve got a laconic, sardonic edge that sometimes comes across like the post-punk of bands like Joy Division or Magazine, but at other times recalls The Minutemen. Regardless, don’t let Moses Brown’s disaffected, distorted vocals fool you into thinking these are dumb punks. Unlike a lot of other bands that trudge through the same fertile ground, Institute are sharp, smart, and firmly committed to not only their sound but their specific aesthetic.

Institute’s songs boast the kinds of ideas that make me want to spend an afternoon next to my turntable, lyric sheet in hand. Opening track “Perpetual Ebb” is addictive and atmospheric, from its guitar hook to its prominent bassline and references to the tides of a seaside town. “Got a fall that won’t lead to spring / One season indefinitely,” Brown blurts out, against music that belies his petulance.

You might roll your eyes dismissively at song titles like “I Am Living Death,” but Institute’s songs aren’t wallowing in self-pity; there’s a blunt honesty here that’s compelling and relatable. Plus they’re catchy as hell. “Admit I’m Shit” could seem like a pathetic excuse, but the chorus’s sonic similarity to the Buzzcocks’ “Oh Shit!” is hilarious and it’s hard to resist a lyric like “For my insecurities / decisions I made / back in L.A / Made a bigoted cocksure coil out of me.”

Catharsis picks up speed with “Cheerlessness,” another somberly titled track with some genius guitar and bass riffs and a brilliant couplet to match: “Purity? / More like abyss / Of self-imposed cheerlessness.” If you think Brown’s taking himself too seriously, you’d be wrong: “These words don’t convey the shame / just some smutty shit I came up with today.”

Despite its scarcity of lyrical content, “Leathernecks” is complex and compelling, traveling into directions one would not necessarily expect; while “Cheaptime Morals” is the most traditionally punk track on Catharsis: dense, fuzzy, and invigorating. “No Billowing Wind,” which alternates between bellowing and spoken words, feels like an underproduced Bauhaus track, which is kind of mind-blowing. The eight-minute finale of “Christian Right” is about exactly what you think it’s about, and sounds like it belongs in the pantheon of late ’70s post-punk. It’s also possibly the best song on the album.

Based on the photos from Institute’s recent show in Toronto, I’m pissed that I missed them because they look like their onstage energy might even exceed their vibrancy on this record. Catharsis is the perfect title for an impeccably produced album that boils instead of blisters. I expect more great things from this band in the near future.

Catharsis was released by Sacred Bones on June 9.