The Mint Chicks: Octagon, Octagon, Octagon EP

By REBECCA BARRY

(Herald rating: * * * * * )

From the unsettling time signatures to the schizophrenic bursts of feedback, the Mint Chicks' first release is as angular and dynamic as its name suggests. Recorded in the vocalist and guitarist brothers' bedroom, the EP focuses the band's loose rock'n'roll live ethic that's probably as hard to pin down as Joy Division's late epileptic frontman.

It helps that singer Kody Nielson, who convulses around on stage in similar style, can go from a low, subdued melody on The Son to wild screeching on the same track. The rest of the band are just as versatile, charging through hardcore, punk and glimmers of Straitjacket Fits on Licking Letters and Post No Bills, somehow staying utterly in control despite the spidery drums, rambling funk bass lines and tortured guitars.

Although it's inevitably a slicker product than their live act, this EP is as exhilarating as they get, right down to its surreal cover art.

Label: Flying Nun