Dance Chapter - Chapters (Vinyl LP)

This is one of those “complete discography” albums from a long-lost West Yorkshire band so short-lived they only released two records -  just six songs in total! They only brought out a 7" and a 12” EP in their short career but ithey're great and have become very sought-after among collectors of early 4AD and post-punk. Therefore Desire have done us all a favour and repressed it with an exclusive bonus track, 'Uncertainty'. There’s only about 500 of these (100 on red vinyl) so it won’t be around very long I guess.

They peddle a kind of slightly gothy, slightly new-wavey indie rock with a unique and unusual aesthetic which very much fits in with the early 4AD stuff without sounding specifically like any of those bands. Listening now it’s perhaps falling somewhere between Gang of Four and the Psychedelic Furs and the Chameleons. Think there’s a touch of Bunnymen in there too. We were listening to it yesterday and Brian reckoned one of the songs sounded “exactly” like the Chameleons but I don’t remember which one.

What is clear, though, especially on songs like ‘New Dance’ and ‘Backwards Across Thresholds’, is that these guys really knew their way around a song. There’s a bleak humanity to everything and a sense of restrained, sneering rage which borders on punk without ever turning to blasts of noise to get its point across. The lengthy, slightly dubby ‘Attitudes’ reminds me of PiL back when they were brilliant. It’s very much of its time but if you’re into this kind of moody post-punk business I expect you’ll be totally grateful this has been re-released.