If you can’t place her name, Hyacinth Thrash was the sole survivor of the Jim Jones led, mass suicide pact in which 913 people died.  If nothing else, she’s an interesting central theme for an EP…

Perhaps distant relatives of The Blockheads and Black Grape, Zeitgeist 77 have an interesting way of blending together a collection of different musical sounds on top of which is added unapologetic gutter poetry.  It’s a combination which, as with the ‘Heads and the ‘Grape, creates tracks that you can boogie to whilst reflecting on their insightful, witty, sentiments.

Lead single ‘Jonestown Boogie’ is the most commercial of the ep’s tracks, being underpinned by a bouncy, T-Rex-style, boogie guitar riff which, almost, masks it’s seriously dark narrative.  It’s followed by ‘Sally’ which carries on the groove and humour, whilst producing a sound that lands in terrain somewhere between the Damned, the Batman theme tune, and U2’s ‘Hold me..’.  Sounding like four songs playing at the same time, it’s the EP’s strongest track.

Remaining tracks ‘All about you’ and ‘Go to tell’ retain the humour of the EP but less of a groove.

Combined, Zeitgeist have created an EP which bounces heavily, whilst demonstrating a clever understanding of how powerful subversive humour can be when it’s done right and is respectful of people’s reputations and circumstances.  Well worth checking out.