Album Review

Man/Woman/Chainsaw, ‘Cannonball’ Review: Art-Pop With a Taste for Chaos

Words by The Pit Standard

Man/Woman/Chainsaw have little interest in keeping things tidy. On their debut album, Cannonball, the London six-piece pull art-rock, post-punk, noise rock, chamber pop and shoegaze into a restless collection of songs that can change direction several times before the next chorus arrives. What holds it together is the band’s instinct for arrangement, particularly Clio Starwood’s violin, which moves between melodic lead, unsettling texture and something considerably more abrasive.

Rating: 4/5 stars

There is a pop sensibility underneath the disorder, even when the music seems determined to work against it. Melodies emerge from dense instrumentation, rhythms shift without warning, and the contrast between Billy Ward and Vera Leppänen’s vocals gives the record much of its character. Rather than settling on one sound, Man/Woman/Chainsaw make the movement between styles part of the appeal.

Opening track ‘Only Girl’ establishes that approach immediately. Its comparatively delicate opening gives way to tightly arranged verses before the chorus breaks into something more urgent, with Starwood’s violin helping drive the song forward. It is an effective introduction because the band understand the value of contrast. The quieter passages are not simply there to provide a pause before the noise; they make the eventual release hit harder.

‘Canyons’ takes a more brooding route, beginning with piano and restrained vocals before the guitars, drums and violin gather around one another. The chorus pushes the arrangement towards outright chaos, but the individual parts remain audible within the rush. That balance between careful construction and apparent instability is one of the album’s strongest qualities.

The change in perspective on ‘Goddamn, Lizard Man!’ is equally striking. Ward’s lower, sinister vocal delivery gives the track a theatrical quality, supported by a rhythm section that seems to lurch rather than settle into a conventional groove. It is an exaggerated performance, but one that suits the song’s uneasy character. ‘Lighter’ then pulls back from the surrounding intensity, disrupting the album’s momentum in a way that makes its sequencing feel deliberately unpredictable.

The centrepiece is ‘Nosedive’, which finds keyboardist Emmie-Mae Avery taking the lead. Built around a persistent bassline, a synth-led groove and glassy guitars, the track develops through the interaction of its vocals rather than a series of dramatic instrumental changes. The repeated vocal phrases gradually become the song’s defining feature, creating a tension between the music’s relative consistency and the emotion in the delivery. It is one of the clearest examples of the band’s ability to make an unconventional arrangement genuinely memorable.

‘Get Up and Dance’ pushes the electronic elements further, threading synths through a restless arrangement that refuses to sit comfortably in one place. Elsewhere, ‘Snakebite’ brings a rougher, more immediate energy, while ‘Flick of the Wrist’ finds the vocalists moving away from their more familiar approaches. These shifts keep the album moving, although the sheer number of ideas occasionally makes it difficult for individual tracks to leave a lasting impression beyond their most striking moments.

That is the main reservation with Cannonball. Man/Woman/Chainsaw are so effective at disrupting expectations that some of the quieter details and melodic ideas could benefit from more room to develop. The density is part of their identity, but not every sudden change carries the same weight, and a little more restraint in places might have made the album’s biggest moments even more effective.

‘The Thing’ returns to heavier territory, with Ward’s forceful vocals cutting through a rhythm-driven arrangement. ‘Still Angry’, meanwhile, brings Leppänen back to the forefront, introducing a more direct contemporary pop sensibility without abandoning the band’s less conventional instincts. The juxtaposition is revealing: beneath the jagged guitars and shifting time feels, there is a group with a genuine understanding of hooks and vocal melody.

Closer ‘Something Else to Give’ brings those qualities together. Its gentle, folk-pop opening gradually expands into sweeping violin passages and a more dramatic vocal performance, giving the album a satisfying final change in scale. Rather than ending on the loudest possible note, the track allows the band’s contrasting instincts to meet in one arrangement.

Cannonball is an ambitious debut that works best when Man/Woman/Chainsaw trust the songs as much as their own appetite for experimentation. The violin gives the record a distinctive thread, the shifting vocal arrangements prevent it from becoming one-dimensional, and the band’s willingness to disrupt their own momentum keeps the listening experience unpredictable. There are moments when the ideas crowd one another, but the songwriting underneath is strong enough to make the risk worthwhile.