shriekback - cormorant

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the release of this album pleases me immensely. having released 3 albums in the mid-80's, that soundtracked my formative years, barry andrews returns to the fray under the shriekback banner to release the first album in many years that actually feels, looks and sounds like a proper shriekback album. while this project is essentially barry running solo with his laptop and home studio, he has drafted in many of his original cohorts to flesh out the vision into a full techno-colour enhanced listen and managed to secure interest from a proper record label in the process so that people can actually buy this album in shops ! so, across the 12 tracks, we get old shrieks martyn baker (drums) and wendy partridge (backing vocals), as well as new names, andy partridge (barry has been building bridges with his past, as andy and barry were part of the original xtc lineup) for various additional guitars, finn andrews (its a family affair) for more vocals amd mark raudva for the up-to-date production tweaks, all melted together to end up making music that is both dark and romantic, yet with shades of melancholy, mystery and raw anger. which seeing as the roots of this album came about through death, is only to be expected, but please, don't think that this is a misery-fest, there is plenty on offer to make you smile, swoon, and even dance a little.

as shriekback were primarily known for their leftfield commercial spins on funk infused electronic music, it's wonderful to hear the desire to create an album that dips into the bands sonic past, as well as forging ahead into new areas. in a nutshell, this album continues perfectly where their miami vice/manhunter friendly 'big night music' left off. deep synthetic ambience, rumbling basslines and pleasure inducing melodies fly through the headphones with welcome ease, being both familiar and yet always fascinating the use of unusual sounds and modern drum loops is great. as before, barry's idiosyncratic vocals are the centrepiece, whether they are treated, layered, reverb'd and phased, or left open and dry, they are always in the forefront of the mix. sometimes with perfect results, whereas in other places, a little restraint may have been desirable. for example, during the sublime 'waterbaby', a track that sounds very similar to 'the reptiles and i' from 'big night music', the combination of the delicate studio manipulation and barrys vocals work well, whereas during 'sea theory' hearing him declare how he's going to get his chips from the chip shop in his big booming voice sounds somewhat weird and out of place. obviously, as this is shriekback, there are many lyrics which verge on the truly obscure, with references to unknown creatures and forgotten dictionary entries, thankfully, this old game is counterbalanced by plenty of refreshing earth bound swearing and raw emotion. i guess the freedom from shackles of major label expectations has released barry's tongue.

having spun the album solidly for a few days, it's great to hear such beautiful attention to sonic detail in these days of fast-n-furious, ear shredding productions, the warm bubbly bass line of 'the strongest wind that blows' is of particular note, with treated pianos for added excellence. then there is the classic 'nemesis' styled other worldly chants of 'load the boat', 'bonehead', and 'voiled karletus', providing old fans with far too many trips down memory lane and a laugh or two along the way. i mean, is the vocal declaration of 'god save all boneheads' - a paean to the love of male pattern baldness i wonder? proving that the gang still have a way with the absurdly wonderful choruses, and that their combined studio chemistry is still very much intact when given the opportunity.

the final section of the album calms things down, with 2 predominantly instrumental ambient tracks, other than some religious sounding words by carlo asciutti (though a little net digging reveals them to be anything else but!) at the start of the minimal keyboards of the albums closer, 'il mystera del tempo', bringing this album to a gentle close.

all in all, a wonderful addition to the shriekback catalogue, and one that will hopefully re-energise people into rediscovering this most wonderful of forgotten bands.

more info : http://maliciousdamage.biz/