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◄ Bands I'll be watching in 2007, and some releases I might revisit

2007-01-12 📌 My review: Pagan Wanderer Lu - The Independent Scrutineer EP

Tags All Music

After a very long list of self-released EPs dating back to 2000, most of which I've never heard — though I remember ads for a couple of them in Andy's Records in Aber, I think — Pagan Wanderer Lu finally comes to pressed CD and pro recording. PWL being Mr Andy Regan, someone else I apparently went to university with and never met, nor ran into when Jez, Mark et al were doing their Grubby Adipose Flange thing and other bands. I stumbled across his music via a weblog collective.

The Independent Scrutineer contains three tracks I'd heard before, Memorial Hall and Our New Hospital as demos and Repetition 1 on an Adam Walton show session Repetition 1 is the least changed here, and unusually for stuff I've heard in a different form before, the other two clicked with me on the first listen.

The Memorial Hall is a fine choice of lead track, building into an energetic song about being drunk and dancing and talking the night away about current events in that slightly desultory way people tend to do when they're pissed. This recording of is much more polished than the demo, the drumbeat in the first part now backed by plaintive bugling and the main song by all sorts of fizzy synth — plus everything seems more confident and controlled. There's a slight crackle running underneath most of the second part, which I'm not sure is intentional, but lends a "live session" feel that isn't at all unpleasant. It could still easily go on for another few minutes repeating verses and the chorus without feeling long.

Repetition 2 I can't quite nail down, though it also has plenty of lines that stick in your head. Lots of beats and haywire sounds, I assume involving sampling but with regular guitars in there as well. Always with a melody that borders on jaunty underneath, holding things together. It's a fun track.

Our New Hospital Sucks has become more fuzzed-up and shouty, appearing to echo from a distance towards the mic with banging and clattering in the background... and even parts played out of sync alongside the main instruments. It does distract a little bit from the lyrics, but the rowdy style suits them.

Repetition 1 slows things right back down suddenly, but quickly gains a beat and sucks us into the quieter second half of the EP. The transition to ---- is subtle enough to miss and can probably be considered a coda despite being broken off into a separate ~2min track. It has similarly lowkey lyrics leading into a fadeout that hangs in the air.

Knight -> King 4 has a great rising guitar line and drumbeat. Again, it's anyone's guess what the lyrics are about, though "remembering" is a theme running through several songs, and occasionally things come across a little melancholy — a comparison with Eels wouldn't be unreasonable, I think.

Things could use a little more volume compression so that quieter tracks rise in the mix, or as an easier tweak Our New Hospital Sucks could just be quietened a bit; I'm guessing the aim was to make it sound loud rather than necessarily be loud...

There are two styles of songwriting here, indie pop that often takes a wry look at social politics and issues, and more reflective and experimental stuff. They're not by any means exclusive, some of the most enjoyable parts of PWL tracks being quick changes, just be aware that sometimes you've got a story to follow, whilst other times (Knight -> King 4, for example) you're letting sound wash over you and the lyrics suggest. I don't like using the word "soundscape" because people tend to link it with pretentious wank, and this isn't... it's pleasant, quite inventive and I like. Anything you find yourself humming days afterwards or listening to a few times on repeat is catchy.

So go and check him out. There's lots of stuff on Myspace, Last.fm and his site to listen to before you plunk down for a copy. In particular, don't miss the Hospital Radio Hits demo MP3 pack. Those earlier recordings are a bit rough but I'd love to hear the tracks (You and Me and) Winston Churchill and Kofi Annan TV redone for a future EP.

THE MEMORIAL HALL

Left to your own devices
You will forget the memorial hall
See in the faded newsprint
Thumbs up from the pals
As they wave us goodbye
And I've got a girl back home
I wrote her a letter, I don't suppose
I'll get a reply, I only hope
She'll remember my name

Poppies we buy to remember
They sell to forget
In Afghanistan
With our faith in the hands of brick layers
We know we could sleep
Safe inside it's warm
As I dance in your hands tonight
These walls shake with our dancing inside
We understand that our tributes are right
Except that there will be more

Now we remember the disco
They're holding tonight at the memorial hall
I hope to meet eyes with your sister
As she stands like a flower by the plaque by the wall
But the alcohol kicks in and somehow instead
The words on the plaque just take over my head
I think I shouldn't be dancing with so many dead
But I'm wrong

CHORUS:
If there's a point to the fighting, any point at all
It's so we can dance in the memorial hall
(x4)

And if drunkenness leads us to conflict
Supporting the troops versus not in my name
Someone gets bored change the subject
Before I explain how they can be the same
If we don't get revenge then the bad guys have won
If the winners aren't good guys that's what they become
The only point in life is just to have fun
Well you're wrong

CHORUS
REPETITION 2

There's a brand new dance, and it's easy to do
If everyone has empathy, they'll share my point of view
And if everyone has empathy then nothing will be cool
And there will be no difference 'tween a disco and a school
Just empty repetition
The cult of terrorism
The strength of your conviction
The Big Brother eviction

CHORUS:
Death to repetition of this long hot summer
Dreaming of an end to all this perfect weather
You look as if there's always something on your mind
I'm sorry Mr Regan, but your card has been declined

Or maybe you would rather be a terrorist as well?
The gulf between ideas is the cave in which they dwell
And if right and wrong are real then it's easier to kill
And you'd think that that would maybe be a hard idea deal to sell
But it's done by repetition
That old time religion
The day of the decision
I bet I will be thinking

CHORUS
OUR NEW HOSPITAL SUCKS

Our new hospital sucks
The contractors are cooking the books
Though the old one was all falling down
At least it was in the centre of town
This one's architecturally innovative
The design has cost them five million quid
Though I can't deny it's a lovely facade
There's not enough space in the fucking carpark

CHORUS:
And you can paint a funny mural on the children's ward
But there's not as many beds as there were before
And you if have a heart attack and drop on your kitchen floor
Then they'll have to drive you further than they would've before
And the nurses have new uniforms in corporate colours
But they're working longer hours than they were before
And they built it PFI so it cost us more
And there's not as many beds as there were before

Our new hospital sucks
And it's even worse than it looks
'Cause they haven't recouped the costs yet
So the local council's in debt
To an unaccountable consortium
Who put the profits before the patients
And there's documents we're not allowed to see
'Cause of commercial confidentiality

CHORUS
REPETITION 1

There's a brand new dance and it's easy to do
Endless repetition of what's bothering you
Can't fight the situation but the feeling you choose
And no-one in their right mind would do what you do

And if you get that letter
Will it make you feel better?
Deus ex machina
When you're under the weather

When you die what goes through your mind?
What distractions do you hope to find
As you pass through to the other side
Of that blinding white light?

Will they come in through the window, should I lock my door?
Should I stay in and go foetal on the kitchen floor?
Is it that bass beat at a party or the ticking of clocks?
Should I get a new haircut, should I change all the locks?

And if he doesn't get his letter
Will it make you feel better?
Deus ex machina
When you're under the weather
----

Not every suicide makes the news
Or wants to
These days
Sad architecture looms in your eyes
And all that remains is a gap in the railings

I saw your little sister
She said she drew this picture
Of houses in the distance
Be brave...
KNIGHT -> KING 4

Tomorrow I die like a king
And my victories will not mean a thing
My empire is lost, I'll be hung on a cross
And my subjects forget how to sing

I once was an angry young man
Born with a gun in my hand
I wasted two bullets on vengeful rhetoric
And quietly changed my demands

Tonight I make love like a King
for tomorrow I don't mean a thing
In the arms of a man, how he moves in my hand
And he dies without any warning
We die...

Tomorrow I die like a king
And my victories will not mean a thing
My empire is lost, I'll be hung on a cross
And my subjects forget how to sing

I once was an angry young man
To your door I would nail my demands
I loved you free market, but I've chosen darkness
And the feel of a sword in my hand

Tomorrow I die like a King
And my statue will not mean a thing
'Cause all that remains is the plaque with my name
And another sad storm gathering
We die...

My spires and fires and latent desires
I retire and expire
I'm greatly admired
Though ire and fire have broke me entirely now

---

All lyrics are, naturally, copyright the band.
Parts checked with official versions on the PWL website.

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