Transmissionary Six - Transmissionary Six
by John Clarkson
published: 13 / 2 / 2002

Label:
TS
Format: CD
intro
"Immensely rewarding" and "cinematic" debut from new Seattle-based group, which features former Willard Grant Conspiracy guitarist Paul Austin and Walkabouts drummer Terri Moeller.
Transmissionary Six are a new group from Seattle, which features the Walkabouts' Terri Moeller on drums, percussion and vocals, and former Willard Grant Conspiracy member and co-founder Paul Austin on guitars, piano and banjo. Initial reviews of the band's eponymous debut album, which was recorded over three nights in November, have largely drawn the duo comparisions with Mazzy Star, the Red House Painters and Tindersticks, but while the Transmissionary Six sound has a similar brooding, intense quality to all these acts, it is, however, also more cinematic and in part is reminiscent as well of a David Lynch film soundtrack.Austin's reflective,carefully constructed guitar lines have a similar eerie evocativeness to an Angelo Badalamenti composition, while Moeller, who leaves the singing in the Walkabouts to front woman Carla Torgerson, proves herself to be a vocalist of immense, previously unheralded talent with a set of spooky,ethereal vocals that bring back memories of 'Twin Peaks' and Julee Cruise. Austin has said that the lyrics on 'Paper Party Hat' were all taken from conversations overheard in a mental institution. Overall though the album's wording has been kept deliberately obscure and oblique, the listener being left to make up his or her own mind about what is being sung. A far away voice on 'Hollis and Applegate' soothingly chides the listener to "relax to sleep", but 'Mothball' finds Moeller enigmatically warning of an "accident". 'Marooned' meanwhile tells of "an air tight plan" that has been "busted" and gone "to Hell". The implication anyway is that beneath the beautiful surface veneers of this record the stuff of nightmares lie and that, again like with David Lynch in his films, things have gone violently askew and wrong. While 'Transmissionary Six' will be given a larger scale release on the Oregon label FILMguerrero in May, it is currently only available in a self-released edition of 1000 copies through selected web sites such as this one. Atmospheric, mysterious, and resultingly immensely rewarding, it is an early contender for the one of the albums of the year.
Track Listing:-
1 Short Wave Hello2 Rodeo Satellite
3 Clay Man Down
4 Mothball
5 Marooned
6 Hollis and Applegate
7 My Paper Party Hat
8 Dog Eared
9 Submarine
10 Short Wave Goodbye
interviews |
Interview with Paul Austin and Terri Moeller (2003) |
![]() |
The project of Walkabouts' drummer Terri Moeller and former Willard Grant Conspiracy guitarist Paul Austin, Transmissionary Six are about to release a second album, 'Spooked'.John Clarkson speaks to them about it and their forthcoming first European tour |
Interview with Paul Austin (2002) |
digital downloads
reviews |
Cosmonautical (2008) |
![]() |
Uplifting and epic-sounding chamber pop on fifth album from previously melancholic Seattle-based band the Transmissionary Six, which is their most accessible album to date |
Radar (2006) |
Get Down (2005) |
Go Fast for Cheap (2003) |
Desoto (2002) |
most viewed articles
current edition
Beth Arzy - InterviewSimon Love - Interview
Rob Pursey - Interview
Stranglers - Rock City, Nottingham, 23/3/2022
Roy Moller - Interview
Tommy Gunnarsson - A Life in Music
St Christopher - Interview
Rupert Wates - Interview
New Leaf - The Year of the Ox
Heist/Idiot Son - (With The Volunteered and Simon Bromide), The Water Rats, London, 10/9/2022
most viewed reviews
current edition
Dave Stewart - Ebony McQueenJosie Bello - Resilience
Smile - A Light for Attracting Attention
Various - Heroes & Villains – The Sound Of Los Angeles 1965-1968,
Sam Brace - Fever and Bones
Gabi Garbutt and the Illuminations - Cockerel
Simon Love - Love, Sex and Death Etc
Norah Jones - Come Away With Me: 20th Anniversary Edition
Girls At Our Best! - Pleasure
Soft Cell - Happiness Not Included
Pennyblackmusic Regular Contributors
Adrian Janes
Adrian P
Amanda J. Window
Andrew Twambley
Anthony Dhanendran
Benjamin Howarth
Carl Bookstein
Chris O'Toole
Cila Warncke
Daniel Cressey
Darren Aston
Dave Goodwin
Denzil Watson
Dixie Ernill
Dominic B. Simpson
Eoghan Lyng
Fiona Hutchings
Harry Sherriff
Helen Tipping
Jamie Rowland
John Clarkson
Julie Cruickshank