Scouse pop frontiersmen LOVECRAFT called up some wonderfully demonic genre-straddling sounds on their Probe Plus debut ‘Whistle And I’ll Come To You My Lad’ back in 2011, but the silence has lengthened rather ominously since.
Consequently, their re-appearance is something of a relief; in part simply because it’s good to know they’re still out there, but also because ‘Häxan’ (actually their debut 7” single) is as great and dramatic a return as the discerning pop head is liable to be assailed by all year.
As befits a collective whose debut featured ditties involving cannibal feasts, unrequited telepathic love and, erm, skinning reindeers, it should come as no great surprise to learn that ‘Häxan’ isn’t exactly yer bog standard boy-meets-girl scenario.
Instead, it cops its title from a 1920s Scandinavian movie based upon how the misappropriation of mental illnesses acts as the catalyst for witch-hunting hysteria.
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It might sound a bit highbrow on paper, but fear not, for the dashing, widescreen thrill of the tune – driven along by Craig Sinclair’s eerily menacing baritone and some impossibly fine drumming – soon confirms ‘Häxan’ to be among their best yet.
Flip it over and marvel again at ‘Aneurin’: a typically left-field, psych-tinged tribute to Nye Bevan and the NHS, featuring skitter-y, funky drums, touches of rock glock (enspiel) and the sort of acid-fried lyrics (“I could sleep behind your eyelids/ while you drive us both to drink”) that never cease to fascinate. Not so much dream-pop, but dreamy all the same, not to mention consummately rich and strange.
Witchfinder Records online
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