LIMBO KIDS – WANDERLUST EP (Own label)
Has someone cool got an uncle who went into a coma in about July
1988? Because, in Oxford especially, the
cool kids seem to be making music that is, not so much generically retro, as
deliberately mimetic of this precise period: it’s as if the movers, shakers and
Tumblrati were preparing a sonic welcoming committee for somebody’s putative
return to consciousness. This EP (not
explicitly released under the Oxonian People’s Front moniker of Blessing Force,
but with links to Trophy Wife and Rhosyn, so it’s as near as dammit) is almost
comically exact in its recreation of the post-synth pre-rave pop of ’88 and
’89, and yet is, unexpectedly, pretty great.
Limbo Kids – no, sorry, LIMBO\\KIDS, as the record artwork would have
it; why have designers started approaching their keyboards like drunken
schizophrenics from the seventeenth century, and when the hell will new band
names stop looking like swearwords from Asterix? – feature James Hitchman from
Alphabet Backwards, and continue his recent quest to reduce pop music to one
single, all-engulfing vocal hook. His
part on “Heartshots” is so simple it makes “Blink Of An Eye” sound like
“Bohemian Rhapsody”, but it’s woven so well over a funky-ish drummer and fruity
organ rhythm that the track doesn’t sound simplistic. There are strong hints of late ‘80s
dancefloor monsters like Jellybean Benitez and even Betty Boo in the backing,
but the elegant placement of the vocal lines makes this a surprisingly
satisfying piece, capable of inspiring multiple listens. It should be a hollow pastiche, but emerges
against all the odds as an enjoyable song.
The track “Wanderlust” runs tearfully from the club to a draughty
teenage garret, but is equally spotless in its vintage, sounding a lot like one
of the more melancholic tracks from Prefab Sprout’s From Langley Park To Memphis.
Again, there’s not much material here to play with, but it’s so artfully
put together that it feels like a weighty statement, not a sonic souffle. Rose Dagul’s funeral cortege cello is
absolutely perfect in its stately sadness, and we love the ghostly, well-kempt
goth air of the lightly reverbed drum machine.
Sadly, the final track breaks the spell somewhat. “Desire” isn’t dire, but the vocals suddenly
sound drab and wheedling, and the whole piece sounds like a pretty dull bit of album
track studio confectionary: there’s a reason why Climie Fisher have been
forgotten, you know. Still, we’ll
forgive this one misstep if it means we can enjoy the gorgeous cultivated
misery of “Wanderlust” again.
Oh, welcome back, uncle. Did you
sleep well? Yes, Dr Who is still on telly, but we’d better have a chat about Jimmy
Saville...
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