OLD WEIRD - BAD WIRES TALK

TOR66.

01 Children of Old Weird
02 Tokyo Drifters
03 Alice in the Cities
04 Jean Cocteau
05 Tarzan vs IBM
06 Reproduction of a Dead End Past


Back in the summer of 2009, the early days of Treehouse Orchestra Recordings, an EP crept out, unheralded and unexpected. It was the debut eponymous release from Old Weird, a dark folk record (part Harry Smith, part early Animal Collective, part intravenous Guinness) that seemed to exist in its own particular, peculiar, little world. The duo of Marc Gillen and David Thompson had uncovered an approach of deconstructing folk songs then rebuilding them that would inform numerous future Treehouse records, but alas that seemed to be that for Old Weird as an entity.

A full decade later, though, a fresh EP has arrived, unheralded and unexpected, from Old Weird. Bad Wires Talk, however, is not a continuation of the old Old Weird sound but more of a reboot and redirection. It’s noticeably less old and weird than before, more 1980s than1880s. In fact, the new Old Weird can be traced back to the single made as part of the We Dream In Sound project; that release was less folk, more fuzz; channelling the beat poets and taking pop culture, rather than centuries of traditional song, as the source of inspiration.

There’s a similar feel to Bad Wires Talk, although they have introduced a fresh element to the sound – this is Old Weird with added synths and a drum machine. Lyrically, too, they’ve clearly been at the DVDs as the central theme of the EP draws inspiration from the cinema. You don’t need to be Mark Cousins to appreciate the words, though, just enjoy the enthusiasm with which they delve back through memories and deeper into movies.

The opening instrumental ushers in the changes, “Children of Old Weird” tipping the hat to the Ghost Box family with a gentle guitar and a sparkling synth melody which wouldn’t sound out of place on an album of Open University library music. In a very real sense, we’re not in Kansas (or any American state) any more, the folk stylings jettisoned for a more personal past. David starts strumming his guitar and steps up to the mic along for “Tokyo Drifter” which details a post-apocalyptic romance whilst admittedly becoming a checklist for all things Japanese (cherry blossom, haiku, Godzilla all get a mention in one verse). Alex Thompson’s accompanying vocals provide a perfect contrast and make the song a foot tappin’ favourite.

It’s back to the synth for Marc’s “Alice In The Cities”, which is named after a Wim Wenders movie and sounds like something the nihilist German band in The Big Lebowski would have made. ‘Techno Pop’ to quote Julianne Moore’s character Maude is as good a description as any. Then it’s a contrast of light and dark two spoken word tracks: the bright “Jean Cocteau”, with David giving his words the full poetic flourish and the sinister “Tarzan vs IBM”, that’s more William S than Edgar Rice, with a nod to Grandmaster Flash to boot. In a further shift in mood, the EP closes out with the bucolic acoustic sound of “Reproduction of a Dead End Past”, a gentle farewell that sends on our way with warmth in our hearts.

It’s a recent trend of Treehouse releases to keep to a duration of 20 minutes, with a couple of exceptions, and the six tracks of Bad Wires Talk maintain this tradition – there are a plethora of ideas here and its relative brevity make it easy to revisit time and again, and you’ll certainly want to. See you in 2029 for the third instalment. - Jeremy Bye.