Detachments
London, England, United Kingdom | INDIE
Music
Press
"They echo the disenchanted sound of Joy Division and the sleaziness of Iggy Pop; fusing disembodied vocal effects, spacey synths and screeching guitar sounds with dubbed-out disco-punk basslines" - Mixmag
Fear No Fear - "It all ends up in blood, sweat and tears, as the murderous progression culminates in an apocalypsis of cadaveric Carpenterian melodies and gnarly bass ululations the likes of which we hadn’t been blown away by since Motiivi Tuntematon’s 1939, more pressure, and darker." (20 Jazz Funk Greats) - 20 Jazz Funk Great
"Crikey - this is more like it. A single that actually makes you stop what you're doing and wonder what the hell it is you're listening to.
Trevor Jackson and Andrew Weatherall are already fans of Detachments and you can see why; 'Fear No Fear' is an imposing black slab of industrial-dance pop. Starting with moody strings and crunching dub-delayed electro beats, it promptly explodes with some ferocious post punk bass, uncompromising synths, white noise guitars and dark, determined vocals that recall Nitzer Ebb's Douglas McCarthy.
The remixes are equally impressive, too. Naum Gabo (aka Optimo) strips out the darkness and lights up the track with lush layers of spacey disco and house, whilst MoscoW turns in a slow burning twelve minute epic that can't decide if it's progressive house or electronica, but is totally gripping nonetheless. An immense debut single, frankly." - CMU Daily
Like X-Men nemesis Magneto using his mutant powers for evil means, Detachments have taken things traditionally associated with uplifting pleasure and bundled them down turd-encrusted dark alleys. Layering sparse, tweaking acid house production over post-punk ESG percussive beats and chunky bass should make for a hands-in-the-air experience – and it does, but only in the sense that Detachments have taken you at gunpoint.
Ominous and foreboding, it appropriates the more gothic elements of Belgian New Beat, bringing an industrial veneer to proceedings, with singer Sebastien's gutteral rumblings putting the tin hat on the glowering effect.
- The Times Newspaper
Frazzled electro-skronkiness, Detachments sound like the urban decay made flesh, or at least steel...one's to watch. - Subba-Cultcha
Discography
Fear No Fear 12" (August 08)
Messages (January 09)
Flowers That Fell Single (April 09)
Circles Single (July 09)
DEBUT ALBUM (September 09)
Photos
Bio
Detachments already count Optimo, Andrew Weatherall, Ivan Smagghe, Trevor Jackson and Shackleton among their fans; these London-based troops step up equipped to win you over.
Detachments leader Sebastien Marshal (guitars, vocals, electronics, production) was a core member of the now defunct R3mote, signed to Andrew Weatherall's RGC label. He stumbled across lead guitarist Lewis Clark and the rest of the soon-to-be Detachments recruits at "a sequence of insane, East London squat parties" in summer 2007. The intense sounding, new post-punk/dark electronic type band were soon discovered by This Is Not An Exit Records, home to dubbed-out disco, avant-rock and psychedelic bombs from They Came From The Stars (I Saw Them), Hatchback, Professor Genius, The Emperor Machine, Prins Thomas and more.
The band are currently recording their debut album to be released on This Is Not An Exit - produced by Trevor Jackson, Tim Goldsworth (DFA) & Andrew Weatherall.
FEAR NO FEAR:
Before TINAE swooped in, Fear No Fear was originally scheduled for release on Ivan Smagghe's Kill The DJ label following high recommendation from Andrew Weatherall.
'Fear Is No Fear' is an unforgettable astral storm blast of "Haunted House" with dead-eyed, immaculately groomed post-punk aesthetics at the controls. This unique track carries echoes of early Warp-esque Techno, EBM and Warehouse shot through with dubby delay and spine-tingling, mind-bending, innovative production flourishes - detailed devices that hurtle the vehicle at lightspeed into the future.
'Fear No Fear' swells into an epic, cathartic finale of techno and acid-house attack and decay that makes it prime material for the world's more intrepid and darkly glamorous dancefloors. Legend has it that the radical, hardware intensive production techniques of 'Fear No Fear' lead to the eventual meltdown of the R3mote studio hub which exiled and confined musical activities to random live manoeuvres for a few months; a hiatus that turned out to be the liberating excursion that lead to the actual formation of Detachments.
MESSAGES:
'Weird, warehouse- Warp, house- vocal old stuff...I mean i really really feel strongly about this track, and Mr Weatherall may have mentioned that i am not a man of many compliments" - Ivan Smagghe
London-based four-piece Detachments wanted to give their fans a little taster of their debut album due in 2009 for nothing. With its lyrical allusions to the supernatural, though not actually about the paranormal at all', Messages' has a timely Christmas flavour in keeping with the ghostly traditions of Yuletide, having been recorded on Christmas Eve of 2007.
Detachments' debut single, Fear No Fear was released in early 2008 to critical acclaim – (The Times Track of The Day, FACT New Talent),
supported by such revered DJs as Optimo and Shackleton, and with radio support from across the board (Radio 1, BBC 6Music, XFM), including an early session with John Kennedy at XFM. Since then the band have been in the studio with electronica stalwarts Trevor Jackson and Andy Weatherall, both keys fans, and now DFA's Tim Goldsworthy. The much-anticipated album is due for release in 2009, with Messages as the next single set for digital only release on the 19th Jan.
Dystopian angst twists and turns at the heart of this tune, where regimented beats underpin a relentless, angular, buzz-saw, post-punk guitar line commanded by minimal deadpan vocal phrases. The operation then proceeds to switch back and forth into a transcendental, futuristic, chiming guitars territory. These alternations from the claustrophobic former to the release of the latter makes for one exhilaratingly intense ride of a tune. The enigmatic Detachments and Trevor Jackson have come up with something delightfully dark and powerful.
THE FLOWERS THAT FELL to be released April 27th, press release to follow
Detachments are releasing a download only single 'Messages' January '09, 'Flowers That Fell' April 09 followed by debut album in September.
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