Githead: Art Pop
Label: Swim
Barcode: 8431900014224
Since Githead is a Colin Newman project - along with Malka Spigel and Max Franken from Minimal Compact and Robin Rimbaud (aka Scanner) - the arrangements on this, Githead's second release, are unsurprisingly reminiscent of Wire circa "Ear Drum Buzz." The band stretches these into longer thematic explorations, tinting them monochromatic with an almost-droning intensity, and in so doing distinguishes itself from the astringent brevity and severity of classic Wire. Almost every song here deserves an essay: Rimbaud's electronica shines forth in "Life Loops," but more so in the funereal dance tones of "Darkest Star," painting the shadows like Pulp did on 'Love Life' or Underworld on 'Second Toughest in the Infants'; while vocoded "Jet Ear Game," whose beauty lies in the details of the overlapping drone patterns, belies a strong Spaceman 3 influence. "Space Life" picks up this dense thread, but winds it around heavily-flanged guitars and the confident breadth of a muscular Depeche-Mode groove. The chorus of "All Set Up" perhaps relives the past-glory of "Outdoor Miner" too closely, but that, it could be argued, is close to the original song's very concept. Closing track "Live in Your Head" swoops in and out with pulsating waves, borrowing equally from Love and Rockets' best work as from Sonic Boom - a beautiful track that simply has the power to re-define the moments in which it exists.
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