The Indelicates

The Indelicates: Songs For Swinging Lovers

I discovered The Indelicates a few years ago with their bitterly funny "Waiting For Pete Doherty To Die".Songs For Swinging Lovers is melodic, funny, sharp, smart and unquestionably my favourite cd of the year that wasn't made by anyone I'm sleeping with. - Neil Gaiman, for The Observer

Not to be outdone in the religious-musical sweepstakes, the Indelicates, a British rock band led by Simon Clayton and Julia Clark-Lowes, offer up David Koresh Superstar (Corporate). Just why, 18 years after the expiration of David Koresh's 15 minutes of notoriety, they felt compelled to devote 65 minutes to the Wacko of Waco is anyone's guess.

That they get to the core of cult and conspiracy-theory mentality (the song 'McVeigh' refers not only to the Oklahoma bombing but also to Ruby Ridge and the New World Order) is undeniable.

But, unlike The Book Of Mormon, David Koresh Superstar is not a comedy. Indeed, the Clark-Lowes sung 'A Single Thrown Grenade' followed by the Clayton-sung 'I Don't Care If It's True' arrestingly articulate megalomania and it's discontents at their most sadly poignant.

In short, the Indelicates don't so much seek to mock as to understand. The extent to which they succeed is chilling. - World: Today's News| Christian Views

British band The Indelicates–fronted by Julia and Simon Indelicate–have released thought-provoking music throughout young career. Perhaps their most thought-provoking (and definitely most controversial) work yet is the new David Koresh Superstar album, written as a musical. This came on the heels of The Indelicates’ musical based on the book of Job. Here, Julia and Simon take the time to talk in detail about the record and their views on the situation in Waco.

ELM: How did you get the idea for David Koresh Superstar?

JULIA INDELICATE: When we were first rehearsing our musical based on the book of Job we got into a jokey discussion with the cast about what unlikely project we should try next – Waco: the Musical was Chris (who played Job)’s idea. It kind of stuck in our heads and for a while Simon was going to write a comedy about it. That came to nothing because we couldn’t find a way to get round the really serious child abuse/ mass death stuff while still being funny.

All the same, Simon had gotten as far as the opening lines and bass part for ‘I Am Koresh’ and they stuck in his head until we felt able to take on the idea as a serious thing when we were supposed to be writing our second album ‘Songs For Swinging Lovers’. About half the
songs were written at the same time as the second album and we gradually fleshed it out to what it is once SFSL was released.

ELM: Do you plan to ever stage it as a musical?

JULIA: We’d love to. There’s also a movie screenplay, which I’ve only seen the first few pages of, but which is AMAZING. Films, musicals, it’d work for both.

ELM: What kind of research did you do before writing the record?

SIMON INDELICATE: I read everything I could – the Ashes of Waco is a good serious book, ‘the Devil’s Party’ by Colin Wilson is schlockier but still good on prurient details that translate well to lurid rock opera – I also read most of Koresh’s own writings and a lot of the theological pamphlets written by his predecessor, Lois Roden, who Julia plays on
the record. We also went to the compound site in Texas and sort of looked nervously at it for a bit.

ELM:You also have songs about Timothy McVeigh and the Alamo on DKS. What parallels do you draw between these events?

SIMON: With McVeigh, it was him who drew the parallel, not me. The Oklahoma city bombing was carried out two years to the day after the Waco fire and was ostensibly intended as direct revenge against the federal government for Waco and the similar siege at Ruby Ridge. McVeigh
traveled to Waco and handed out conspiracy theorist literature during the Waco siege and was obsessed with it – his song on the record is supposed to portray him in the crowd: young, angry, convinced he’s right and that everyone else is stupid. I think the album is all about
that kind of person – I’m that kind of person – and the disastrous effects we can have on the world if we let ourselves get too wrapped in it.

With The Alamo, I think it was a way to set the stage for the story and announce the setting and style. I wanted it to be located in a mythic version of Texas, and specifically Texas, not the amorphous ‘America’ that people in Europe pretend to know about. The song is like a child’s version of history that doesn’t go any deeper than the legend but that sets up the general feeling. At the same time, I think the story of the Alamo (which really is the foundational myth of Texan identity) in which a bunch of rebellious Texans die after a long siege in which they are holed up in a church surrounded by the forces of a hostile and repressive government can’t have been far from anyone’s minds in ’93. It must be hard to convince people they’re in the wrong when they’ve been raised to see people in your situation as the definitions of heroes.

ELM: Were there songs for the record that didn’t make the final cut? If so, what were they?

JULIA: Nope. Everything that’s there is meant to be there.

ELM:Did you listen to other musicals while you were writing/recording DKS?

JULIA: Me and Simon quite like musicals. We tend to like the good ones, but whenever I say that I realise we also quite like the bad ones! Obviously we’ve listened to Jesus Christ Superstar and Joseph, and our own Book of Job: The Musical! Plus Phantom of the Opera, Cabaret, yeah lots. Also Disney musicals though, and we’ve always loved Buffy and South Park musicals. Probably not very cool! But there’s a lot you can do with the Musical/ Concept format that you just can’t do in a normal rock album, which is I think why it’s so interesting and so much fun to do.

SIMON: We did try to drive all the way back from germany one time only listening to concept albums. It was good for a while – all of Tommy, all of Baader Meinhof, School, Ziggy Stardust even War of The Worlds -but The Wall broke us. There’s only so much of the Wall you can listen to before crashing the van on purpose – it’s just unforgivable.

ELM: Are there any other historical figures that fascinate you?

JULIA: Well we’ve got a song about Unity Mitford (who fell in love with Hitler, shot herself when England and Germany went to war, and missed), and Patty Hearst. I’m sure there will be
others!

ELM: After spending so much time with the story, what do you think led people to join Koresh’s cult, if you have any theories?

JULIA: That’s a very complicated question. For a start, it wasn’t actually Koresh’s cult – it was an offshoot of the seventh day adventist church that had existed for a long time before Koresh took over Mount Carmel and which still exists. Before Koresh’s time they were regarded (when they were thought of at all) as pretty forward thinking and interesting – especially with regard to the almost feminist views of Koresh’s predecessor Lois Roden who wrote extensively about the feminine aspect of the divine – identifying the holy spirit as explicitly female. As such, a lot of people were already members when Koresh took over. That said, there is a lot of talk of people being mesmerized by Koresh’s scriptural knowledge and sermons – he really did know his Bible and could relentlessly preach people into submission. The other thing that’s fascinating is that thecongregation were emphatically not the kind of stupid, redneck, bible-belt dwellers that people in the UK like to feel better than, there was at least one Harvard graduate, there were a lot of English people, it was ethnically diverse – there were clever people in there.

Now, I don’t know why anyone believes anything – I don’t understand actually believing in the supernatural at all – but I can understand a longing for all of this relentless time to come to a fiery end and I can imagine being so disgusted with the graceless business of the world that one would willingly suspend one’s reason for a chance at connecting with some kind of meaning. Each of those theories has a song: ‘A Single Thrown Grenade’ and ‘I Don’t care If It’s True’ respectively.

ELM: How long did it take to make DKS?

JULIA: Simon started writing and recording demo’s for it in 2009, we then went to Berlin to record our second album, at which point half of it was written. We completed the UK recording in may/ June 2010, the US recordings in September 2010, and the whole album was mixed by
November 2010. So it’s a couple of years in the making.

ELM: Who are your favorite writers?

JULIA: My favourite writer is probably Terry Pratchett. There is humanity in his books that I haven’t found in many others, I really love them. Also Alan Moore, Neil Gaiman, our friend Paul Stapleton is writing this great post apocalyptic comic called The Undisputed King Of
Nothing, which I’m really enjoying. We read a lot of comics, we’re also massively in love with the TV series Treme.

SIMON: I like Milton. Satan is my favourite character in fiction.


ELM: As a band, are there any social causes in which you’re active?

JULIA: I find the protest movement a bit disconcerting, but we do get involved in political debates about the Internet. Simon was on a panel recently at the House of Commons, talking about being an artist in the digital age, and how amazing it is, and how it shouldn’t be restricted.

SIMON: I’m sure I said much cleverer things than that. It would have been good if I’d just said ‘whatever, Lord wossname, the internet’s amazing’ – but I didn’t, I said clever things about fair use exceptions.

ELM: What are your live shows like?

JULIA: They are awesome, of course.

ELM: How has the reception of DKS been?

JULIA: People are in turns intrigued, obsessed, weirded out, angry, and learning all the words. Which is all you ever can ask for.

SIMON: That’s not all I can ask for, it’s just all I can get. - Euterpie's Notebook

Two and a half years after its release, Radiohead’s In Rainbows is still getting lobbed around the music business like a hand grenade. To everybody from Megan McArdle to Ian Astbury, Radiohead’s decision to sell their seventh album using pay-what-you-want pricing was one of the worst decisions a band could make, and also one of the final nails being hammered into the recording industry’s coffin.

But when that grenade came whizzing at Simon and Julia Indelicate, the heads of UK band the Indelicates, they decided to catch it.

The band chose to sell their most recent album, Songs for Swinging Lovers, on a pay-what-you-want basis through Corporate Records, a label they created. And if the sales figures thus far are any indication, that grenade might be too old. Or a dud. Or both. I spoke with them over e-mail about the whole experience, and here’s what happened:

WAMM: First give everyone a quick summary of your music industry experiences prior to forming this band (i.e. previous bands, record deals, touring, licensing, etc)

Simon Indelicate: After forming in 2005, we put one of our earliest demos (a song called “Waiting for Pete Doherty to Die” which is nowhere near as flippant as the title) online for free download and it very quickly went modestly viral – being downloaded from our site hundreds of thousands of times. We played pretty much a London gig a week for a year, and toured Germany and the UK.

We spent a lot of time being told that “industry” were coming to see us play and encountered the prevailing attitude that these mysterious figures were the only important members of any audience. Eventually, we were approached by the A&R man of a smallish indie label based in London and Austria who offered us, initially, a two single deal. We released a single on vinyl and CD and, though not profitable, it did well enough for them to offer a £10,000 advance for an album with an option on the second. They paid for the recording and it came out in 2008.

Throughout the whole process, while the record company were decent, friendly and not especially incompentent we had the inescapable sense that, advance and recording costs aside, they were adding nothing to the business of making and selling our music. Money was wasted on pointless ads, unnecessary design checkers and failed print PR campaigns and we never felt that we sold a record by any traditional method – we sold albums to people who we were in contact with directly over the internet and were discovered over a network of unorchestrated bloggers, tweeters and word-of-mouth spreaders.

In a two album deal – the company has no obligation to release a second album, but you have to record one for them if they decide they want it. As such, when it came to the second half of 2008, we were left in limbo when the record company started umming and ahhing over whether to exercise their option. Sales had constantly declined and, in a new environment where ‘no-advance’ deals had become the norm they clearly couldn’t afford to meet the second advance that was promised in the contract. They vaguely offered a new contract based on a zero advance – but were never clear.

As a result, we were left for 6 months in a position where we were unable to record anything new ourselves because we were technically still under contract, unable to release anything on the internet, unable to sign a new deal and generally just paralysed. Eventually, painful though it was, we wrote to ask that they drop us, and they obliged. They have since wound up all record company business – and given us back our rights which was extremely nice of them.

So how come you decided to use Corporate for this album as opposed to another label or a platform like Bandcamp or Guguchu?

We built Corporate Records ourselves and it would have been a bit counter-productive to use someone else’s! But we did build the thing specifically to do what we wanted as a band and we don’t think any of the other sites offers quite the same service. We believe that the economics of music now dictates a model based on abundance rather than scarcity – we wanted a site that would allow us to release lots of music very quickly and that would allow us to be very particular about the precise details for each release. Corporate lets you be very specific about your release and doesn’t try to charge you per release – just takes a small percentage of sales.

Also, while there are many nicely designed, web start-up style sites out there, the last thing we’d want is something that looks like it was built by shiny positive web 2.0 people – this is supposed to be rock and roll, not social networking. Corporate Records is a deliberate challenge to the music industry – especially in light of its aggressive lobbying for draconian and stupid anti-piracy laws – and it has an attitude and logo to match.

I think most similar sites are constrained by their dependence on investors and are unable to veer to far from the friendly, uber-professional design aesthetic, the kooky inoffensiveness and marketing speak that they require. Additionally, the size and reputation of a platform aren’t really factors when you sell online – the key thing is getting people to click the link to the download page, not relying on passing traffic browsing the front pages of online music shops.

But conventional wisdom states that the pay-what-you-want model is the province of big, established bands only. What made you decide to use that model?

Because [our former] record company was tied in to distribution deals, for the longest time we only had imported vinyl copies of our first album to sell at gigs. The number of people who didn’t own record players but who bought that format from us because they felt they wanted to reward us in some way was mind-blowing. I don’t believe that people are naturally unwilling to pay musicians they wish to support and I think pay-what-you-like requires that people know that artists are offering their work themselves on that basis, so that they feel that the act of paying makes a specific difference. Even more so, I think it’s important that people who want to important they have to enter a zero in the payment field and press send – it just changes the balance of downloading and associates the acquisition of music with an effect on the people who produced it. I think that’s enough – it’s a positive way to deal with the problem.

I think the enormous success of the album has vindicated the model. Thousands of people have chosen to pay. If anything, the fact that people know that, unlike Radiohead, we actually need the money and won’t be fine if they choose not to pay us has helped.

A couple weeks ago, Ian Astbury of The Cult called Radiohead’s decision to sell In Rainbows this way “stupid” and “irresponsible.” I’d guess you disagree with his opinion?

I have no sympathy with his views at all. I’ve regularly heard the spurious argument that giving music away devalues it and all I hear is a basic failure to understand the simple economics of the situation.

The record industry was profitable because it controlled a number of scarce resources: that is, it was able to afford the high costs involved in recording, manufacturing, distributing and promoting music. The Internet has reduced these costs to almost nothing – recording gets closer to free every day, manufacturing an Mp3 is free, distributing an Mp3 costs almost nothing, online promotion only costs time (print ads and reviews have startlingly low ‘conversion rate’). In other words, far from selling a scarce resource, the record industry is now trying to sell something abundant. The only sources of scarcity they have left are hype and fame. Anyone who wants to listen to music of equal quality – and isn’t bothered that much how famous the bloke who made it is – can do so legally and immediately for nothing. It is absolutely a buyers market and it is for buyers to determine how much they value 45 minutes of music based on their relationship to those who produced it. Radiohead didn’t devalue music – they offered music at the value that the market had set. We did the same.

There’s nothing irresponsible about responding to reality in a way that makes the truth clear to people at the expense of a rotten, obsolete system that only ever exploited musicians anyway. He should watch who he calls stupid in future. - We All Make Music

The Indelicates seem to have an affinity for provocation. Their latest album, David Koresh Superstar, had its roots in an earlier project: The Book of Job: The Musical. The actor playing Job joked, "What's next? Waco: The Musical?" and that planted the seed. Simon Indelicate and the band have captured the '70s rock musical sound of shows like Hair and Jesus Christ Superstar to create a wonderfully shocking novelty...

Well, not quite.

Sure, the subject is audacious, but the songs themselves are solid and the story they tell is nuanced and interesting. This makes David Koresh Superstar a clever concept album masquerading as novelty fluff. Like any concept album, the effect is wasted if the CD is used for mere background listening.

The tale begins with Remember the Alamo, which evokes the mythology of the Alamo as a symbol of ideological freedom and martyrdom. The dark folk feel of the acoustic guitar underlies the clear vocals and forms the overture for the album.

The Road From Houston to Waco outlines the roots of Koresh's life encompassing both the formative events that shaped him and his religious delusions of grandeur. As David Koresh Superstar continues, it parallels Jesus Christ Superstar, building to the inevitable conflict. These parallels come as much from Koresh's biography as they do from the Indelicate's artistic license.

There are big differences between the two narratives, of course. Where Jesus in JCS is conflicted and human, Koresh is more arrogant and sure. I am Koresh illustrates this, showing Koresh's first overt step in creating the cult of personality that he tied to Jesus' path. David Koresh Superstar captures the complexity of the real story. Koresh is treated with the skepticism he deserves, but neither the ATF and the media are given a pass.

Beyond the storyline, the songs are well written, using a clear, direct voice to make the lyrics stand out. The music is also quite interesting, jumping from acoustic folk to layered instrumental to rock. A Book of the Seven Seals marries elements from Hair's The Flesh Failures (Let the Sunshine In) and JSC's The Temple to create tense, allegorical reprise of the story.

The Indelicates best summarize Koresh's arc in A Single Thrown Grenade:
I will know for certain if He's up there
And I will know for certain if He's not
Either will be balm for this aching
For the things I want and haven't got
I'll know the scorching hearts of our evil
And I'll know the simple nature of my fear
I'll be a single thrown grenade into air so still
That the shockwave forms a perfect sphere
The quiet certainty of the words and the simple country folk music make a powerful pair. Likewise, the attention grabbing theme for this album and its serious execution take Kool-Aid and spin it into Bordeux. - Jester Jay

It is initially confusing to hear such American music delivered in such a thick British accent. But then this entire record is about duality and juxtaposition. The jump from male to female vocals occurs often, and frequently infuses soft, stirring melodies with more rousing instrumentation. There are twangs of country and western music, but the storytelling within the songwriting implies a much more epic platform. Religion and the Bible is a thematic cornerstone, but the album never comes across as preaching anything, and certainly does not turn to gospel, despite racing through folk, blues, and funk as and when it pleases.

The title obviously gives away what this concept album is about and the angle it’s going for, and without listening to the record it’s a little difficult to envision how you could make an album from such a subject matter, much less a musical that isn’t a musical. They’ve only gone and bloody pulled it off, though. It really works. The Indelicates manage to stick with both theme and concept without it becoming dull, completely ridiculous, or forced. Of course, soundtracks taken from musicals are usually full cast recordings, and accordingly, this record actually has a cast. The Indelicates themselves, Simon and Julia play Koresh and Lois Roden, respectively, with the rest of the cast featuring Lily Rae, Jim Bob, (yes, Jim Bob from Carter USM) and The Vessel, amongst others (including a full Greek chorus!). The record itself is so masterfully written and produced you can almost imagine this cast on a stage. Top marks for creativity, guys.



Now, this record is bound to upset a few people who will see it as making light of a tragic incident, but it’s handled with both care and an honesty that is refreshing. It would have been all too easy to tiptoe around the details, but the ambiguity and the different sides of the story that occur across the album make for a fair account of the subject matter, and it’s interesting that an album that deals with such darkness can come across as so much fun. ‘Ballad of the A.T.F.’ is positively dance-worthy, which is just plain weird, but in a glorious way.

The fact that this record is bold is what works for it, and it’s genuinely impressive that an album like this can hold a listeners attention for over an hour. Ludicrous? Yes. Assertive, sad, silly, funny, beautiful, absurd, and heart wrenching? Yes. An overwhelming success? Definitely. - Altsounds

When multi-millionaires Radiohead released In Rainbows under their pay what you want scheme, they caused a shift in music distribution. Taking this initiative, the not-so-rich indie bands are hot on their heels and armed with just a website and a Paypal account. Anyone can do this, but for it to work you have to be good. Luckily for The Indelicates, they’re fantastic.

Since 2006, The Indelicates have made their mark as a male-female duo vocaled outfit who deliver sweet melodies with slashing wit and paint-stripping snarls. Early track ‘We Hate The Kids’ is still a terrific slight at popular culture (and always the last track of the night at Hong Kong indie night, Songs for Children, fact fans).

Their second album adds a studio polish to proceedings, making it come across as a strange mix of Springsteen and Pulp. Bad idea on paper but on record provides some sparkling moments. The breakneck indie rock and fist-pumping chorus of ‘Your Money’ is drenched in the sweat of wide-eyed music fans packed into a London club and the critique of modern love in ‘Flesh’ is as cold as the lyrics, yet still gorgeously close.

Bands like The Indelicates are a gamble ‘real’ record companies are no longer willing to take. Now these enterprising bands are going it alone, it’s the big labels’ loss. They can keep the Fratellis and the Kooks, the quality bands are coming out of the sidelines. Download at www.corporaterecords.co.uk
- Brouhaha Creative Culture (Hong Kong)

Look at what you’ve bought
With all that hard, hard work
And all that financial support
And I loathe and resent
Every dream I’ve dreamt
And I’ve nothing but contempt for your money
The Indelicates – Your Money

Julia und Simon Indelicate, das ist die englische Indie-Rockband The Indelicates. Sie bewegen sich musikalisch im Bereich Folk, Punk und Noiserock. Unter ihren Stage-Namen treten Julia Clark-Lowes und Simon Clayton seit 2005 zusammen mit Alastair Clayton (Gitarre), Ed van Beinum (Drums), Lily Rae und Laurence Owen auf. Ursprünglich bestand die Band allerdings nur aus Julia und Simon, die die Band auch für ihre Solo-Aktivitäten nutzen.

The Indelicates haben bereits drei Alben herausgebracht: American Demo (2008) bei Weekender Records, Songs for Swinging Lovers (2010) und nun David Koresh Superstar (2011) bei Corporate Records. Momentan sind sie mit dem neusten Album auf Tour.


Songs for Swinging Lovers wurde in Berlin aufgenommen. Es wurde zunächst nur über die Corporate Records Website veröffentlich, erst zwei Monate später gab es dann den CD Release. Die Besonderheit der Corporate Record Website ist es nämlich, dass sie einer eigenen Marketing Devise folgen. Man kann bloggen, twittern oder sonst wie so gewollt die einzelnen Tracks oder sogar das ganze Album teilen. Dafür gibt es spezielle Download-Links , die den Song oder das Album zum Herunterladen anbieten. Gezahlt wird dafür nur, was man möchte, also „pay-what-you-like“ (also durchaus auch gar nichts). Dort gibt es nun auch das aktuelle Album David Koresh Superstar als pay-what-you-like.

Aber zurück zu den Indelicates: Nicht nur die Texte der Künstler gehen ins Ohr, auch die musikalische Umsetzung der Lieder. Julias und Simons stimme ergänzen sich gut, geben ihren Liedern eine individuelle Note. Besonders das Album Songs for Swinging Lovers hört sich für mich etwas nach Steampunk an. Gemeint sind damit besonders die Lieder Be Afraid of Your Parents und Europe. Beide Lieder vermitteln einen surrealen Eindruck, ein unterbewusstes Gefühl der Unwirklichkeit.

Aber auch die anderen Lieder des Albums lohnen sich durchaus wiederholt gehört zu werden. In Savages drücken The Indelicates Gefühle wie Einsamkeit, Liebe und Sehnsucht aus. Der anspruchsvolle Text wird von einem durchgängigen Beat untermauert, der mir wie ein pochendes Herz vorkommt.

But there’s no place for us
No Ithaca no home
We are Greeks in the age of Rome
With no right to criticise
The happily dull, to Grecian eyes
And the world has no need
of the songs that we sang
We are savages, you and I, and we will
Hang, hang, hang.
The Indelicates – Savages

Hervorzuheben sind also besonders die Songtexte. Für ihren Zynismus sind sie nämlich bekannt. Kein Wunder, ihre Texte gehen unter die Haut und scheuen keine (Selbst-)Kritik. Es lohnt sich daher vor allem in den Lyrics nachzulesen. Mein besonderer Anspieltipp ist hier das Lied Sympathy for the Devil.



Musikalisch hat sich die Band auf ihrem neuesten Album David Koresh Superstar sehr gewandelt. Es erzählt auf seine eigene Art die Geschichte des Anführers und selbsternannten Propheten David Koresh, der 1993 in Waco nach 51 Tagen Belagerung seines Sektenlagers tragisch starb, durch seine einzelnen Tracks wie ein Musical – also ein Konzeptalbum. Hinzugekommen sind dabei auch neue musikalische mysteriöse Töne wie in The Woman Clothed With the Sun und Klangspiele, die dem ganzen einen orientalischen Touch geben. Weg ist der Eindruck vom Steampunk, geblieben sind die nachdenklichen Texte. Dafür versprüht The Road from Houston to Waco den Hauch von Country Musik. Dieser Song erzählt die Geschichte des Sektenführers gut und eingängig.

Meiner Meinung nach, setzen The Indelicates die Geschichte auch ganz gut um. Allerdings verliert die eigentlich tragische Geschichte in manchen Liedern ihre Dramatik und lässt die Zuhörer etwas auf der Strecke bleiben. Für mich ist das zum Beispiel der Fall im Song What If You’re Wrong, in dem Koresh wohl Zweifel an sich selbst haben soll.

Mit ganz vorn dabei ist der Song I Am Koresh, der entschieden ins Ohr geht, und eine Album-Version von I Don’t Care If It’s True, die bereits in anderer Form auf dem vorangegangenen Album war. Dieses Mal gibt es eine größere Klangvielfalt, mehr Instrumente, also mehr für die Ohren. Mir persönlich gefiel die Bonus-Track-Version wesentlich besser, da sie meines Erachtens die Traurigkeit des Songs besser hervorhebt. Daher ist das Lied auch entschieden mein Lieblingsstück von The Indelicates.

Auch die offiziellen Videos der Band sind wirklich gut. Jedes vermittelt eine eigene Botschaft, eine eigene (oft auch surreale) Welt. Dadurch handelt es sich nicht um bloße 0815-Videos, sondern es lässt sich noch eine andere Seite des Liedes in ihnen entdecken. Damit gehen sie oft auch besonders unter die Haut – so zum Beispiel der Prediger in I Am Koresh und die Frau in Roses.

Damit gehört diese Band sicherlich auch zu meinem Geheimtipp für euch. - Musik Graph

I've been needing something to clean my musical palate of late, given that Hard-Fi's abominable single "Cash Machine" seems to be playing everywhere, all the time. If you haven't yet had the displeasure, the track is musically not so much workmanlike as Stakhanovite in its dreary plodding, while the lyrics would make a sixth-form poet blush. Apparently we're all like, slaves to, like, the system, man, working for the ATM of the title.

I'm usually offered the "just turn the radio over" response when I get worked up about things like this, and yes, Hard-Fi are just four harmless - if talentless - young men from Staines. But bad art is bad art: it slows progress and casts a pall over popular culture.

So: cleaning one's palate. Find something different, something outre, something attention-seekingly controversial - like The Indelicates' "Waiting for Pete Doherty to Die". A title that sounds like a Channel 5 programme idea belies a bitter-sweet, folk-tinged bit of acoustic soul-searching typical of this fascinating new band.

I long for the day when it's not necessary to comment, as if surprised, that a band is intelligent, but for now The Indelicates are, and this is highly refreshing. You can download "Waiting . . ." for free from www.indelicates.com. It's also worth checking out the Kate Bush-esque piano track "Burn All the Photographs" and the peculiar Russian folk homage "Vladimir".

The most exciting of the MP3s on this site is "We Hate the Kids", a cynical, disaffected lo-fi anthem - "I wanted to believe in rock'n'roll stars/I wanted to believe in contemporary art" must be couplet of the year so far - that features a gripping duet by the vocalists, Simon and Julia Indelicate, over piano, bass and eventually a crudely filtered electric guitar that sounds all the better for its crudeness.

"Pop had a beginning, it grew and was tended/Now it is rotten. Let it be ended," they conclude. Thankfully, not all of it seems to be rotten. - New Statesman

Jack Black

Wow! Piano! Oldschool! Punkrock! The girl sounds gorgeous. Is it possible to tell how someone looks by their voice? I love her. - Jack Black (Actor), in Intro Magazine (Germany)

Who are they?

Simon and Julia - the Indelicates - are political-punk musos attempting to bring the poetry back into pop. Simon was a performance artist and Julia a documentary photographer when they met at a poetry slam two years ago and decided to make sweet music together.

What do they sound like?

Julia's keyboard smashing recalls a more restrained Amanda Palmer from the Dresden Dolls, but their sound is unmistakably English, drawing on the dons of the British scene, Morrissey and Luke Haines, and with frank yet florid lyrics worthy of Billy Bragg.

Lyrical show-offs then, eh?

They may be a bit clever-clever, but with MAs coming out of their ears, they've got every right to be. Their songs cover everything from Hitler's dodgy concubine to Che Guevara cap-sporting students who think they are about to lead the revolution - they even manage to fit in a Harold Macmillan quote.

She looks a bit familiar ...

Julia was a founding member of polka-dotted, doo-wopping girl group the Pipettes, but left and was replaced by a Princess Diana lookalike just before they hit the medium-time.

Where can I hear them?

Their single Julia, We Don't Live in the Sixties is out now. Listen to other songs at www.myspace.com/theindelicates - The Guardian newspaper (print and online)

"And the water laps at the harbour side/ Our royal dance is codified/ We are all traversed in suicides/ We are condoms washed on the harbour side/ So sit with me and we'll toast the bride of Europe..."
da "Europe"

No, Julia e Simon Indelicate non sono per niente delicati. Possono nascondersi dietro uno spirito cabarettistico, affettando accento balcanico nella marcia circense di "Be Afraid Of Your Parents", ma il loro sarcasmo rimane un pungolo che si incastra nel costato anche quando l'attenzione vorrebbe lasciarsi andare.
Gli Indelicates rappresentano una realtà purtroppo ancora un po' in ombra nel panorama internazionale: eppure il loro esordio, "American Demo" (così chiamato perché tali sarebbero quasi tutti gli esordi delle band britanniche oggi), rappresenta un raro esempio di un azzeccato intreccio tra immediatezza, abilità compositiva, fervore intellettuale e verve cantautorale.
Certo, si trattava di un lavoro piuttosto lontano dal gusto imperante nel mondo indipendente attuale, ammiccando più che altro al pop-rock inglese alternativo degli anni 90 (dagli Hefner di Darren Hayman a Billy Bragg, con una punta dei primi Manic Street Preachers, qui più evidente in "Your Money"), mantenendosi tutto sommato a distanza dai richiami new new wave o folk-pop che sarebbero le soluzioni più facili per un gruppo alle prime armi in Inghilterra.

Ma, con le strade più sicure, Simon e Julia hanno scarsa dimestichezza. Per questo "Songs For Swinging Lovers" i due hanno lasciato l'etichetta che aveva pubblicato "American Demo" per fondarne una, la Corporate Records, e votarsi a un nuovo, moderno modello di marketing: il download a offerta libera. La versione fisica di questo nuovo lavoro non sarà disponibile, infatti, che a giugno: il gruppo del Sussex ha deciso di anticipare la data che i propri fan aspettano con ansia rendendo disponibile il disco fin da ora.

"Songs For Swinging Lovers" mantiene evidenti punti di contatto col lavoro precedente, sia dal punto di vista stilistico che nei temi, fortemente polemici ma sempre intrisi del loro caratteristico humour, caustico e amaro.
Prendiamo ad esempio il salto geografico che introduce il disco, dall'"America" (pezzo di "American Demo") all'"Europa" ("Europe" introduce invece "Songs For Swinging Lovers"): dal militaresco inno di estrema alienazione (se l'Inghilterra è "squallida e meschina", parteggiare per lo spettro di un'America "senza Dio" pare la perfetta chiusura dell'incubo) alla teatrale invettiva contro un Vecchio Continente svuotato, "ubriaco di stile e classe ereditati". Prese testualmente dal libro pubblicato dal gruppo inglese (e già esaurito) in occasione dell'uscita di questo secondo disco, le parole con cui Simon spiega la scelta di aprire con un brano così opprimente, dallo spirito che realmente evoca i fantasmi di un'Europa avviluppata da fumi marcescenti, risuonano della sua inconfondibile schiettezza: "Volevamo che ["Europe", ndr] suonasse il più sgradevole e disgustoso possibile. [...] Se sembra affrettato disprezzare un continente in modo così radicale, beh, lo è in effetti. [...] Ma c'è qualcosa da cui guardarsi. [...] L'orribile mancanza di gusto della moda "alto"-europea con i suoi tailleur rifiniti e le sue pietre levigate del tutto inutili. Il modo in cui ci aggrappiamo a un comodo pacifismo pur affidandoci a obblighi e trattati con l'America per gestire la nostra sicurezza".
E' inevitabile quindi, in questa visione del mondo certamente non diplomatica ma neanche macchiettistica, che il disco acquisisca, rispetto all'esordio, un'atmosfera forse un po' più malinconica, meditabonda; perde in aggressività (che, riguardo ad "American Demo", aveva attirato qualche riferimento al mondo punk inglese), recuperando in termini di spessore negli episodi in cui Julia prende il timone nei "suoi" pezzi al pianoforte. Oltre alla già citata "Europe", la maestosa murder ballad al pianoforte di "Roses" la mostra più ammaliante che mai (una Kate Bush dei tempi d'oro), nella sinistra progressione che racconta di un sensuale assassinio notturno ("The stark composition of essence and parts/ I gathered your limbs for a final dance/ A silent waltz to your songs unsung/ As the lifeblood seeps from your punctured lung/ Do you bleed diamonds/ Do you bleed rubies/ Do you bleed roses ").

"Songs For Swinging Lovers" non è solo corrosiva presa di posizione, non è solo piacere intellettuale ma anche, al solito, pura soddisfazione pop. La tripletta di "We Love You, Tania", "Ill" e "Flesh" fa sobbalzare sulla poltrona non solo per la riuscita melodica, per la semplicità non banale degli arrangiamenti, ma soprattutto per la fusione ormai allo stadio finale tra due personalità musicali e non solo (i due si sono conosciuti a un concorso di poesia poi vinto da Simon). Pura ballata à-la Billy Bragg la prima (dal testo e atmosfera riecheggianti "Singer Songwriter" degli Okkervil River), si procede poi con un'altra "agiografia polemica", la rappresentazione dell'uomo moderno come incubo huxleyano, un misto di dipendenze varie e tendenze suicide narcotizzate dall'assuefazione, nella solarità elettroacustica di "Flesh" ("Because you'll never take enough of those pills/ You know you're too clever to be mentally ill/ You'll never fashion your damaged soul/ Because you're too clever to lose control").
Riferimento a "Brave New World" ripreso esplicitamente in "Savages", in cui il connubio tra Simon e Julia viene sostanzialmente sancito, non solo dal punto di vista musicale (che mostra qui chiare inflessioni eighties, anzi propriamente synth-pop). In una sorta di dialogo tra i due, viene infatti qui promosso come rivendicazione "identitaria" ("And the world has no need/ Of the songs that we sang/ We are savages, you and I/ And we will hang, hang, hang").

Va annotata solo una lieve, a dir la verità quasi inspiegabile, flessione in "Sympathy For The Devil" (solo una citazione), motivetto country-pop gradevole, ma non di più. Più convincente la coinvolgente chiassosità popolare di "Jerusalem", con tanto di strombazzate a rimbeccare il duetto sbarazzino tra Simon e Julia, che piazzano una delle loro stilettate ("We all love The Smiths, and we dig The Clash/ But the smell of leather is intoxicating/ Brilliant minds, we are genii/ We excel at drama and formal debating") e non possono non risultare simpatici per questa consueta dose di (auto-)ironia che riesce, va detto, più naturale che in altri più incensati autori (Will Sheff, per dirne uno, tra questi).
Non poteva mancare, dopo i titoli che da soli valevano il prezzo del biglietto di "American Demo" (da "Last Significant Statement To Be Made In Rock'n Roll" a "If Jeff Buckley Had Lived"), una chiusura affidata al testamento in tre quarti di "Anthem For Doomed Youth", trattato di sconfitta e disillusione per una generazione "che non ha subito abbastanza torti per essere punk", "né affamata, né in lotta, né credibilmente povera". Una generazione "condannata" in partenza, che Simon e Julia raccontano con leggerezza, piccoli riff acustici e volteggi pianistici che si alternano e sfociano nello ieratico valzer finale.

Una leggerezza, una sapienza compositiva che confermano una band che sarà in grado di fornire più di una soddisfazione negli anni a venire, se riuscirà ad avere un supporto più consistente della comunque preziosa (e prevedibile, dati i tipi umani) amicizia con Eddie Argos degli Art Brut.

(30/04/2010) - Ondarock (Italy)

Vor knapp dreieinhalb Jahren gehörte das extrovertierte Punkkabarett-Duo von den Indelicates mit seiner bitterbösen Superstar-Liebeserklärung “Waiting For Pete Doherty To Die” zu den spannendsten Geheimtipps, die die britische Undergroundszene zu bieten hatte – auf ihrem mittlerweile zweiten Longplayer “Songs For Swinging Lovers” erteilen Julia Clark Lowes und Simon Clayton der Welt nun elf verbindliche Lektionen tiefschwarzen englischen Endzeitsarkasmus’ in Rock. Wir nutzten die Gelegenheiten und sprachen mit Simon Clayton und Julia Clark Lowes. Über Pete natürlich. Über wen auch sonst.



kinki: Karrierestart mit einem morbide-naiven Track wie “Waiting For Pete Doherty To Die” – ist das Fluch oder Segen?
Simon Clayton: Er ist ja bekanntlich noch nicht tot, zumindest für ihn ist die Story gut ausgegangen. Bis jetzt. Aber im Ernst: Ich bin sehr froh, dass er noch lebt. Und ich bin auch froh, dass wir damals diesen Song gemacht haben. Zweifellos ist Pete Doherty ein brillanter Musiker, der ab und an tolle Stücke schreibt. Er mag nicht immer ganz zuverlässig sein, was seine Auftritts- und sonstigen Moralvorstellungen angeht, doch am Ende des Tages ist er ein netter Kerl, schätze ich.

Gab es von Dohertys Seite ein Feedback auf eure etwas andere Huldigung?
Julia Clark Lowes: Irgendwann hat er einen alten Ex-Bandkollegen auf den Song angesprochen, weil er dachte, er hätte irgendetwas damit zu tun. Aber ich bin mir fast sicher, dass er zu diesem Zeitpunkt high war. Oder vielleicht war auch der Typ high, der mir von dieser Begegnung erzählte. Schwer einzuschätzen.

Könnt ihr euch vorstellen, eines Tages als Pete Dohertys Supportband zu touren?
JCL: Ich glaube, das würde nicht funktionieren…
SC: …weil er die Shows kurz vorher canceln würde. Wir müssten dann als Headliner einspringen und hätten im Handumdrehen einen neuen Intimfeind!
JCL: Wenn ich ehrlich bin, würde ich mir nicht so gerne einen Backstageraum mit ihm teilen…
SC: Ich denke nicht, dass du das müsstest. Er ist bestimmt sehr anspruchsvoll und verlangt seinen eigenen Dressingroom!
JCL: Ich verstehe mich mit Heroin-Junkies im Allgemeinen nicht allzu gut. Ich würde ihm gerne mitteilen, dass es mich sehr freuen würde, wenn er mit den Drogen aufhört.

Von Pete Dohertys Ableben zu eurem aktuellen Album “Songs For Swinging Lovers”, auf dem ihr als erhängtes Liebespaar zu bewundern seid. Der Tod steht euch gut…
SC: Eigentlich haben wir den Plattentitel bei Frank Sinatra geklaut und einfach nur ein “g” drangehängt. Nachdem wir dann das Coverfoto produziert hatten, teilte man uns mit, dass ein bekannter Künstler in den 60ies exakt das gleiche Motiv verwendete…



Die augenzwinkernde Botschaft auf Songs wie “Savages”, “Be Afraid Of Your Parents” oder “Anthem For Doomed Youth” lautet zwischen den Zeilen, dass wir alle verloren sind…
SC: Nein, das würde ich nicht so sehen. Im Gegenteil: Es gibt diesmal sehr viele Songs, die von dummen, jungen Männern handeln. Zu denen ich mich, nebenbei bemerkt, ebenfalls zähle. Die Message ist vielmehr, dass wir das Jüngste Gericht keineswegs fürchten müssen und weiterleben dürfen. Diese Situation ist für mich viel beunruhigender, als zu wissen, dass demnächst vielleicht alles zu Ende ist. Oder etwa nicht?


Text und Interview: Thomas Clausen - Kinki Magazine (Germany)

In 2010, the Indelicates’ second album, Songs for Swinging Lovers, rekindled my love for music by being clever and critical, and for sounding like a glorious collaboration between the Mekons, the Wedding Present, Carter USM, and Luke Haines, with a song co-written by Jacques Brel following a really awesome séance. While the Indelicates’ music isn’t the most original, the subject matter of their songs and the way they go about approaching those subjects is wholly refreshing. From love songs taking the viewpoint of Unity Mitford to biting (and completely accurate) putdowns on today’s youth and culture, there’s no subject the Indelicates are afraid to tackle. Their third release tackles only one subject, yet it’s their most ambitious undertaking to date.

Entitled David Koresh Superstar, the Indelicates’ latest release is a concept album based on a (at this point in time) fictional musical about religious leader and self-proposed prophet David Koresh and the Waco Siege of 1993, in which Koresh and his followers perished following a 50-day standoff with the ATF (The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives). The Indelicates have gone all-out for this release, creating a video game called “Super David Koresh Attack”—the player tries to dodge ATF members in order to get to the mission to pray—and expressing interest in turning the whole thing into a full-length film. A subject as touchy as this may not be the hottest talking point at the moment, or the most intriguing to many music fans, but the Indelicates have done a stunning job at making history intriguing.

Subject matter aside, the Indelicates’ other great strength is their vocal prowess; both Julia Clark-Lowes and Simon Clayton have strong, dramatic singing voices suited to the material. While Clayton’s voice sounds like a cross between Luke Haines and the Wedding Present’s David Gedge, he has a greater range than both and sings in a convincing enough American accent as Koresh. The only moment of overindulging in a Texan accent comes on second song “The Road From Houston to Waco”, and is quickly forgotten.

Being a concept album/musical featuring multiple characters, the Indelicates had to cast others in supporting roles, and thus recruited Jim Bob of Carter USM, Philip Jeays, and Lily Rae, among others. Jeays and Bob are particularly notable for their performances, as an ATF member and Timothy McVeigh—who cited the Waco Siege as a reason for his attack on Oklahoma City in 1995—respectively. David Koresh Superstar‘s finest moment, however, is “Something’s Goin’ Down in Waco”. Featuring a variety of voices that take the listener from an anonymous call expressing concern over happenings in Waco through the standoff between an ATF officer and Koresh and concluding with news watchers the world over commenting on the siege, it gives a vivid illustration of the rapidly escalating events. It’s also more fun than any song on the Waco Siege has any right to be, particularly when Simon muses “looks like another Ruby Ridge” in a campy German accent.

Concept albums are often hit or miss affairs. As attention spans dwindle ever smaller and music becomes less an art form and more a flavor suited to that moment or time of day, the device of telling a story in album form has gained in respectability. However, the artist must ensure that each song can clamp down the listener’s attention. David Koresh Superstar peaks and dives, but even if things drag a bit, one will want to stick around for the closer, a blistering rendition of the folk traditional “John the Revelator”. Listening to the entire release, the question may also arise as to “why now?”, but in a world where terrorism is a steady concern and the way in which government institutions conduct themselves is an ongoing topic, “why now?” can be answered in myriad ways. The Indelicates don’t equip listeners with an answer, but they do get toes tapping enthusiastically enough to want to consider such arguments in the first place. In a world where music continues to be dumbed down or devalued, we cannot ask for much more. - Popmatters

Ein privates Problem: Wer soll jetzt, wo Art Brut ungefähr so interessant geworden sind wie Liam Gallaghers neue Band Beady Eye, eigentlich für die Indelicates werben? Auf dem beigelegten Infoschreiben versucht Brutologe Eddie Argos es ein letztes Mal: "Favourite film? The Indelicates. Favourite book? The Indelicates. How many sugar in my tea? The Indelicates. Until they get the recognition they deserve." Das Debüt-Album "American Demo" war nicht so gut wie die Singles, "Songs For Swinging Lovers" ist nicht so gut wie "American Demo". Doch man hätte Morrisseys Quiff darauf verwetten können, dass den Indelicates (die sich auf dem Cover vorsorglich aufgehängt haben) noch immer ein Tunnel am Ende des Lichts erhalten bleibt: "Hey doc, can you take my skin and melt it into plastic?/ Beauty isn't truth, it's just youth/ And it's adaptive and it's elastic." Für "Ill" haben Simon Clayton und Julia Clark Lowes die ersten Sekunden von Weezers "Pink Triangle" entwendet und daraus einen kompletten Song gemacht (Lawsuit anyone?), in "Be Afraid Of Your Parents'" warnen die enttäuschten Idealisten spöttisch vor Soirées mit älteren Teilnehmern: "It's been a marvellous party, marvellous guests/ Discussing the decline of the decadent West/ The nibbles and wine, we are disarmed and impressed/ By the charming men in uniform." Wer alles von Black Box Recorder und den Auteurs schon hat, braucht diese Platte. (6) Jan Wigger - Der Spiegel (Germany, also in Print)

Amanda Palmer is playing in Edinburgh on the 22nd in the 2009 Edge Festival, which means I will definitely stick around for a few extra days (Details are at http://amandapalmer.net/tour) (Or at the HMV site.) I may sign copies of Who Killed Amanda Palmer. I will not, I am relieved to say, play tambourine.*

She's being supported by the Indelicates, I think mostly because I kept playing them when she was out here. I must use this power only for good.

(This, from their site, is a demo of the first Indelicates song I heard, and I was hooked in one, as they took apart, with bitter grace, the media /academic obsession with and delight in the downfall of stars and idols.) - Neil Gaiman, Author of Coraline and Sandman comics

Back in 2008, The Indelicates released their first album American Demo - so named because, according to singer/guitarist, Simon "that's what all British indie debuts are". Mixing folk, rock and glam, the record was a poison-pen letter to rock 'n' roll from a pair of its spurned lovers, sealed with an acid-tinged kiss. It was also one of the best guitar-pop albums of the decade, but inevitably it didn't exactly set the charts alight. Now, Simon, co-frontperson Julia (an original but short-lived Pipette) & co. are back. As well as launching their second album, the band hope to rip up the industry rulebook and start again with their Corporate Records venture. Putting their money where their mouths are, the record is available through the label on a Radiohead-esque pay-what-you-like model (even if that's zilch).

Songs For Swinging Lovers certainly won't catapult the group into the Top 40, but it should please existing devotees and bring a few more along for the ride. It lacks a bit of the coherence and gloss 'n' polish of their debut, but it's an assured, aggressive follow-up nonetheless. As before, Simon and Julia trade positions as lead singer from track-to-track of their pop literate Auteurs/Suede-powered tunes, with the occasional duet flung in for good measure. The tone is set with Julia's piano-led, cabaret-esque 'Europe', whose sarcastic salute to the continent makes good on the promise of darker material second time out.

Hot on its tails is Simon's equally heavy Holy Bible/Journal For Plague Lovers-style riffing on 'Your Money'. Elsewhere, 'Ill' and 'Jerusalem' boast melody lines to make corporate songwriters weep with envy, while still retaining the band's trademark line in poetic barbs ("You and your friends have been discussing how / It seems rebellous to vote Conservative now"). As on their debut, the Indelicates' trick is to suck you in with hooks that have you either dancing or swooning before the lyrics smash you in the chops. The languid 'Flesh' could slip unnoticed onto a Magic Radio playlist were it not for its uncompromising verses ("Come on girls let's try and bring out the rapist in the new men..."). Meanwhile, the Sarah Nixey-esque 'Roses' is the album's finest moment, its twisted lyrics conspiring with the bleak melody to wrench your soul in two.

There's the odd misstep - the country hoedown pastiche of 'Sympathy For The Devil' definitely jars - but while the album doesn't quite match up to the palate-cleansing blast of their debut, it's not far off. The title's dark punning on Sinatra has been done before, but the image of the hanged bandleaders on the sleeve still packs a punch. Similarly, there's nothing musically groundbreaking here - the instruments strummed, thwacked and plucked aren't different from those used on any number of indie-pop blandathons - showing that it really is what you do with it that counts. - Digital Spy

The Indelicates
David Koresh Superstar
The word ‘provocative’ might retain about as much meaning in contemporary art as the word ‘revolutionary’, but The Indelicates’ latest enterprise deserves more than a wearily raised eyebrow. Earnest, arch and irreverent by turns, their concept album on late cult leader David Koresh and the 1993 Waco siege is an achievement along the lines of Luke Haines’ Baader Meinhof or ‘Jerry Springer The Opera’. And while only a slim but certain demographic will regard that as a ringing endorsement, it assuredly ought to be taken as such.

Rock opera requires a leap of faith to be effective, and its writers have to shoehorn their socio-political pontificating and explorations of existential doubt into the restrictive demands of narrative and scene-setting. David Koresh Superstar isn’t overly clunky or didactic, shepherding the listener in fifteen tracks through Koresh’s origins, stand-off with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms, and the final conflagration that consumes himself, his followers and the faith of many observers in the benevolent intentions of the US government.

Recorded in Texas and infused with the heat and dust of its landscape, the album might be regarded as the logical conclusion of Julia and Simon’s preoccupation with the American south and occasional view of the country as foil to a Britain in decay, a place of space and potential far greater than that afforded by our claustrophobic little island. David Koresh Superstar‘s journey through the shadows cast by Old Glory associates Texas with a tragic tradition of popular opposition to tyranny, introduced in the stirring opener ‘Remember The Alamo!’. From this not unproblematic perspective, Koresh’s last stand constitutes heroic resistance to a government identified with the overbearing occupying force of New Testament Rome, in the album’s most overt hat-tip to its namesake ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’.

The ’70s funk and massed choruses on some of the album echo ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’, too, in particular the urgent disco pulse and manically rippling keyboards of ‘McVeigh’ – a perfect match for the paranoid compulsion of the lyrics. Murky and bombastic, ‘I Am Koresh’ lurks in the shadow of Johnny Cash’s cover of ‘Personal Jesus’. There’s also a jaunty Nashville pastiche in ‘The Road From Houston To Waco’, a grimly gospel rendition of ‘John the Revelator’, and Julia’s trademark precipitous piano and vocals on ‘The Woman Clothed With The Sun’ and ‘A Book Of The Seven Seals’.

Among a host of collaborators, Katy Rose Cox on fiddle and Sara Passmore on musical saw create haunting, meandering motifs that spiral with the same ominous portent as the unfolding narrative. Lily Rae, whose effortless vocal panache evokes Kirsty MacColl, guests on ‘A Single Thrown Grenade’, her understated delivery and the music’s lilting lullaby concealing a core of chiliastic steel. On the standout ‘Ballad Of The ATF’, Philip Jeays and David Devant & His Spirit Wife’s The Vessel appear as the velvet-voiced guardians of a military-industrial complex that’s been resentfully rusting since the Cold War.

With the band’s lyrical sting substantially drawn, David Koresh Superstar feels marked by an odd and abiding compassion, even for the ATF’s grizzled men out of time or the conspiracist outrage propelling ‘McVeigh’. Koresh is no hero, bathetically portrayed as lascivious, self-doubting and deluded, but the album’s true villain is a world with, as repeatedly asserted, “nothing in it”, where messianic aspirations are tawdrily shot down and destruction can become indistinguishable from salvation.

[Corporate; May 30, 2011] - Wears The Trousers