Bolt, Bolt

No, this wasn’t what I was expecting to hear coming from a bunch of guys who’ve made their names playing raw, punkish garage-rock in bands like The Monocles and American Sharks. The guitars are thick and “round”-sounding and bluesy, the sound’s warm and inviting, and singer Mike Hardin’s vocals are confident and in-your-face. Put together, Bolt come up with a flamboyant, brash, almost theatrical chunk of ’70s throwback rock, a cross between the boogie parts of the Rocky Horror soundtrack, The White Stripes (particularly the stomping groove of “The Man Who Couldn’t Save the World”) and, weirdest of all, Bowie.

“Hot Saturday Night” is the boozy roller of the pair, a song that sounds like it could’ve been playing on the hi-fi in the background of Dazed and Confused — it’s like a long, wild, warm night (duh) spent partying with your buds, just having fun and not giving a shit about the rest, even though you’re due back at school in a month or two and you all know it. B-side “The Man Who Couldn’t Save the World,” though, is the one that really grabs me, more over-the-top and deliberate, sounding like the Thin White Duke could’ve easily written it himself (and the song title’s maybe-unconscious nod to “The Man Who Sold the World” doesn’t hurt). When singer Mike Hardin declares “We were born — oh, baby, we were born!”, I swear, I feel it.

The weirdest part is that if you were to describe this little two-song EP to me, I’d probably chuckle and shake my head — nah, no way. I can’t help it, though; put it on for two minutes, and the rest of the day, I’m singing along under my breath. The key, I think, is that there’s not a trace of irony here; this is seriously retro-rock crafted by a bunch of guys who sound like they spent their formative years digging through their older brothers’ record collections and loving every second of it.