While the scenery that surrounds its hometown (Kansas City, Missouri) may give the illusion of serenity, the wryly named Cher U.K. does its best to disturb the peace with metallically inclined garage-rock that dissects the local environment with a smirk. On the trio’s first album — a dozen brash ditties in 33 minutes — the jerky, skittering rhythms of “24 Hour Breakfast Menu Macabre” would make the Meat Puppets proud, while “College Song” smears gobs of punk snot all over.
Frontman Mike McCoy’s plaintive squawk and bassist Heather Grehan’s steady stepping weave together in the threads of Lisa McKenzie’s drumming on Go-Go Fish. Ripping through “Court” and lifting the Velvet Underground’s “Femme Fatale” for “Baldie” (slowing the tempo and replacing the VU verse with “everybody knows you cut your hair”), the group maintains the debut’s manic energy while varying the stylistic approaches.