The credits alone reveal a lot about Tarwater - what they're about and what their backgrounds and interests are. That the lyrics to one of the songs - 'Palace at 5am' - are credited to Charles Baudelaire, for example. Then there's the song 'Sato Sato' - a (sort of) cover of a DAF number.
Building on a locked-in repetitious Krautrock groove, 'Photographed' has a tripped out, baggy psychedelic vibe about it while coming on like Suicide. Steven Hawking providing vocals for a Kraftwek demo or B-side is perhaps the most representative description I can give of 'Get On', and it's clear that much as they know their serious literature and the history of electronic music, Tarwater aren't lacking a sense of humour.
The cover of the rather obscure John Lennon and Yoko Ono track 'Do The Oz', is graced with a vocal performance that’s an approximation of Mark E Smith circa 'Shift Work' over a laid-back backing, while 'Sato Sato' is transformed from its original stark robotic form to incorporate a bouncy oompah brass section and tinkling triangles and the like. Weird, a tad comic yet curiously cool and unexpectedly successful.
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Gothic overtones shade the sultry jazz vibes of the haunting 'There Never Was a Night', and the aforementoned ‘Palace at 5.am’ brings the album to a haunting close. As well-realised as it is ambitious, ‘Inside the Ships’ is an album that offers something that’s truly different.
Tarwater On-line
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