Virgin Passages - Mandalay

  by Andrew Carver

published: 30 / 9 / 2006

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Review

‘That’s not very good,’ I thought after listening to Virgin Passages’ ‘Mandalay’ for the first time. Chalk it up to a recent addiction to freak folk geniuses Wooden Wand, who overshadow most other acts, and the fact that I was listening on my CD stereo. On a second listen - over headphones - 'Mandalay' is a far more compelling slice of basement odd-folk. ‘Hate Hate Hate’ kicks off the album with the clatter of living-room ambience, a darkly droning organ and reverberating, sometimes stinging guitar ready to lead the listener down a haunted corridor to an underground chamber where a sleepwalking harmony group accompanied by a back porch jug band. "What is this ... I just don’t get it," the trio sings with dormouse aplomb before shuffling into their next tune, ‘On Commodore’. It’s a shambling effort. The rhythms of ‘Memories Are for Kids’ sound like they were hammered out on pipes and bottles, while the wordless vocals, offhand playing and eventual din of ‘Headstones Progress’ abide by only a token sense of timing. Fans of groups like Jackie O Motherfucker, Amps for Christ and others who twist Americana into almost ambient forms of music, or those who wish the Red Krayola circs ‘Parabe of Arable Land’ were a folk band from Nottingham will appreciate the deformed lullabies of ‘Mandalay’.

Track Listing:-

1 Hate Hate Hate
2 Oh Commodore
3 Mandalay
4 Memories Are For Kids
5 Headstones Progress
6 F.O.A.
7 Your Home Is Where You're Happy
8 Part Weatherman
9 These Concrete Tracks, I Call Them Mine
10 Gents March
11 Like Dogs
12 I Want You To Sleep

Label Links:-

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https://firerecords.bandcamp.com/
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https://www.youtube.com/user/Firerecor