Untitled Document

Research is the name of the game, right? So, we look into the past of the various members Macrocosmica and see that lead singer Brendan O'Hare was one of the main protagonists of the C86' era as drummer in Teenage Fanclub. And when you learn that he's teamed up with Gavin Laird, one-time guitarist in the Telstar Ponies, you just about have them sussed, right, wan fey songs and bedroom 4-track production quality? Wrong. Listen to this record and you are hit by a wall of noise to start with, which eventually subsides and starts up again throughout the album. Hardly C86. If you dig a little deeper into the band's history, you'll find that Russell the drummer once worked with Test Department, providing industrial-strength backing to their experiments in sound. This, along with the pounding bass of Cerwyss Ower, is the first thing you'll hear when you start the album, and "Rusty's Arms" explodes into life. Hard-rockin' is the name of the game, though "I Am the Spaceship Digitalis", although having a progrock title is not prog, but a little variety in the ocean of noise, reminding the listener of the Swans a little. The band are often compared to Nirvana, Pixies et al but these are surely lazay comparisons, and the one with AC/DC I don't get at all, which is a blessing as far as I'm concerned. Mind you, there's others to be drawn, Big Black is for me the most obvious, though less musically and more due to the production on it which is tight and sonically impressive. Lo-fi and twee it ain't.
Stuart McHugh