Bleach

  • Bleach
  • Killing Time (Dali/Chameleon) 1992 

This quartet from Ipswich recorded three EPs inside a year’s time and received an inordinate amount of British press accolades for them. Scoring an American deal with the soon-to-be-bankrupt Chameleon label, Bleach released a compilation of those EPs and then apparently disappeared off the face of the earth. An unenviable fate to be sure, but Bleach’s music didn’t deserve much more. With tribal rhythms and sheets of razor-wire guitar backing Salli Carson’s dry, monotonic vocals, the only thing providing much of a melodic impulse on Killing Time is Nick Singleton’s bass playing. A near soundalike to the far superior Th Faith Healers, Bleach’s wholly uninteresting take on British guitar rock is almost redeemed by the swirly psychedelia of “Shotgun.” Almost.

[Jason Ferguson]