Sealings - I'm a Bastard

  by Adrian Janes

published: 8 / 10 / 2015

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The predominant image of 1980's music is one of ultra-glossy productions, pointlessly extended remixes and musicians dressed like aspirant bank managers. But there was a shadow side to all this, one which featured primitive drum machines, grimy guitars and grim faces (Big Black, Jesus and Mary Chain, Second Layer,etc.).Sealings are not revivalists but their music has undeniable roots in that time, as does the wider world in which they’re making it. Opener ‘My Boyfriend’s Dead’ is like the opening of a tomb, drum machine drilling and pounding and the singing a moribund moan. But an infusion of energy comes from skittering hi-hat and a viciously distorted guitar, like a crazed Robin Guthrie. There is a determined anonymity about the band, but whoever the guitarist, their versatility is key to the success of this album. An elegant tone is employed on ‘No Summer’ while ‘Hey Bernice’ is given an almost rockabilly feel. Elsewhere, ’Malloy’ is an electric blizzard like a Kevin Shields interlude, ‘Unnerved’ the churning machinery of a satanic mill, and ‘Psychic Gobshite’ lets loose a sound akin to the blasting of an extra auditory canal. Yet no matter how fiery, it’s always in the service of the music: a controlled intensity. The vocals are largely unintelligible, distorted by reverb and other, coarser effects. In fact this is to the good, as when they’re most exposed (as on ‘Unnerved’) their basic weakness is apparent. But with the benefit of effects, the treated voice (think Jim Reid at his most morose) actually contrasts well with the guitar. This is never better than on ‘The Ultras’, where the words resemble an incomprehensible incantation but the guitar and drum machine approach the godhead of Godflesh. The energetic, quasi-punk ‘White Devil’ and ‘Hey Bernice’ bookend the sombre, synth-guided ‘Transient Curse’, which could be heard as undeveloped or as a distillation of early New Order into barely two minutes of deep feeling. It’s of a piece with an album that clocks in at only 28 minutes, like a goth Ramones, and yet which has the emotional impact of albums twice as long. Sealings may be disparaging of their parentage, but they can be proud of siring this debut.

Track Listing:-

1 My Boyfriend's Dead
2 No Summer
3 Unnerved
4 White Devil
5 Transient Curse
6 Hey Bernice
7 Malloy
8 The Ultras
9 Psychic Gobshite
10 I'm a Bastard

Band Links:-

https://www.facebook.com/Sealings-141127105910320
https://sealings.bandcamp.com/releases
http://awesomeghost.tumblr.com/

Label Links:-

http://www.fauxdiscx.com/
https://www.facebook.com/fauxdiscx?_rdr=p
http://fauxdiscx.tumblr.com/

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