New Music: of Shapes – Mantis

I hear the influence of two of my favourite bands within Mantis, and neither of them is regarded as post-punk!

Yet of Shapes – previously known as New Shapes – also bring diametrically different themes to play in an arrangement that has much of the air of 80s post-punk, before its form had diverged from its punk ancestor.

Part of the credit for that is down to the lead vocals of Melissa Charbonneau. With a range that encompasses Amy Taylor’s full-on pub rock punk amphetamine energy and Emily Haines’s late-night indie queen sensibility – slightly vulnerable but always in charge.

Charbonneau’s bandmates, Alex Speechless on guitar, Thomas Caron on bass, and Charles-André Chamard on drums, kick up a mighty noise on Mantis, post-punk that has an ear for the genre’s origins and present. Banshees to SPRINTS via ACTORS are here; however, Mantis is the sound of a band intent on forging their own identity.

Mantis is the first single from the band’s upcoming self-titled EP and can be heard on Bandcamp and Spotify. You can catch of Shapes at L’Hémisphère Gauche in Montreal on the 23rd of October. For updates on that, and all the latest EP news, head to Instagram.

Header photo by Francis Belmont