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Photo
by Derrick Santini |
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After
touring on the back of their twisted non-retrospective Punk
Rock in 2004, the Mekons picked up their instruments and
lost themselves far beyond the beaten path, out in the wilds
of the English countryside. They drank whiskey all night, listened
to the rocks and the Stones and tuned into strange old frequencies.
They recited lines from Darwin and Thoreau and renewed their
vows in a remote stone circle high up on the blasted heath where
birds and branches sing beneath the roar of jet fighters as
they swoop over the sharp crags and dark water, rehearsing for
Armageddon.
Removed from the restraints of conventional studio technology,
the Mekons navigate an undulating sonic landscape of lavish
melodies, mantric chants and shimmering acoustic experimentation,
all the while displaying the same natural grace and precision
that drives the sparkling salmon forever upstream through the
fierce current to mate and die.
Natural is a celebration of ritual, paganism and sacrifice
- both ancient and modern. The opaque alchemy of "Dark
Dark Dark" finds an echo in the bewitching old white magic
of "White Stone Door." Blood is spilled in the somewhat
less-than-innocent sylvan past in "Wine or Money,"
while "Burning in the Desert, Burning," the band's
chilling inventory of the mechanics of terrorism, abruptly transports
us back to the modern world and a darker kind of sacrifice.
"The Old Fox" mixes ancient wisdom and nature's unlikely
survival in the city, and the translucent harmonies of "Perfect
Mirror" conjure ancient myths of paradise lost.
Natural is the Mekons' first CD of new material since
2002's critically acclaimed OOOH! The Mekons formed
in Leeds, Yorkshire, England in 1977, so by any bugger's reckoning
this must be their 30th anniversary! Essentially the same band
that recorded Mekons classics like Fear & Whiskey, Edge
Of The World & Mekons Rock'n'Roll way back in the '80s,
this battle hardened line-up featuring Rico Bell, Sarah Corina,
Lu Edmonds, Steve Goulding, Tom Greenhalgh, Susie Honeyman,
Jon Langford & Sally Timms will tour the States in September
and October. |
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Natural
Quarterstick
2007 |
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