Notes From A Ceiling

The Mess Hall prove a two-man garage-blues outfit can sound like a full band tearing a room apart, without ever faking the extra hands.

"Diddley" opens with a beat lifted straight from the Bo Diddley playbook, but Jed Kurzel's guitar keeps snapping the groove sideways so it never settles into homage. What makes the record hold together is how the pair split the difference between grime and space — "Shaky Ground" leans into the sweat, while "Red Eyes and Sunshine" lets a little air and light into all that dust. Cec Condon's drums do the work of a rhythm section and a horn line at once, filling the gaps a bass would normally cover. By the end you stop counting the players and just feel the size of the noise.