Ellington

After nearly two decades of indie sovereignty, Seattle is itching to rock out again. But the new movement doesn’t sound much like Nirvana or Alice in Chains; it sounds like Emerald City up-and-comers Brokaw. This music forces all scenester wallflowers to stand up and head bang or sit down and shut up.

“Interiors,” Brokaw’s first release for Good to Die Records — a label still wet behind the ears that also represents local hard cases Monogamy Party, Sandrider, and Absolute Monarchs! — captures the essence of this movement, for better or worse.

The album opener, “Ambulance Red,” begins with about 20 seconds of shrill guitar before dropping a prominent bass line. This weighty but intricate bass sneaks its way into many of the eight tracks, easily distinguishable despite barrages of heavily distorted riffs. This technique rounds out Brokaw’s sound, bringing to mind funky hard rock tracks like “Killing in the Name” and “Take the Power Back” by Rage Against the Machine.

Brokaw also evokes the politicized fury popularized by bands like Rage and Rise Against. On the punchy seventh track, “Time Ain’t Now,” vocalist Mike Henderson drawls, “A lot of people seem to worry about the institution / I think that maybe they should start thinking for themselves.”

A perfect example of the album’s anti-government sentiment, “Time Ain’t Now” also showcases Henderson’s chops as a singer. At his best, he channels The Pixies’ Black Francis, putting manic inflections on biting lyrics. At his worst, he retreats to a deeper, more traditional rock ’n‘ roll singing style, and the songwriting becomes pedestrian. It is worth noting that in either case, the listener can understand nearly everything he says: a refreshing departure from other bands in this scene.

“Politicians By the Pool” is an example of Henderson’s best delivery. A deliciously sludgy bass line and stuttering guitar complement lyrics that run the gamut from ironic to outrageous. A mere two minutes and 33 seconds long, this is the album’s catchiest cut.

Unfortunately, the band fails to bring the same tension and urgency to every song. The album’s third — and longest — track, “No Morphine Doctor,” bores the listener with simplistic lyrics that are reiterated like some tired Buddhist mantra backed with uninteresting riffs. Consequently, the song takes the wind out of the album’s sails before it has a chance to get moving.

Brokaw weds subpar lyrics to repetitive music again on the sixth track, “The Slide,” which also ends about a minute later than it should.

The strongest tracks on “Interiors” are all under three minutes. They are catchy, original, and livid. The weaker ones are longer and formulaic. As a whole, the album is imperfect, but when it works, it’s awesome.

The verdict: If you’re not familiar with the genre, you probably won’t like it. To those who are: The album’ s successes are worth sitting through the failures.

Reach reporter Joseph Sutton-Holcomb at arts@dailyuw.com.