George McFall – XIV:Surrounder

Tenement

George McFall‘s first release under his own name, after stepping out from behind his Clean George IV pseudonym, has quite an intense edge with an arch and literate drive that stands it out from a lot of the synth-based music of the moment. Although most of the tracks are written for synthesizer and effects, the use of live drumming courtesy of Oi Polloi‘s Murray Briggs and Kling Klang‘s Ali Moniack gives them a vital and human feel that, allied to the deadpan delivery of George and his wild wordsmithery, is a great counterpoint to the electronic sounds.

The synths are all buzzy and fuzzy on opener “Surrounder”, and the opening line “Hey stranger, are you looking forward to the future?” puts the listener into the right frame of mind for a trip through the recesses of George’s inquisitive and probing thought patterns, accompanied by Doppler effect keys and bombastic drums. It is noisy and erupts into a gallop with a surge of adrenalin that gradually descends into torpor.

“Surrounder” is a real eye-opening intro and the nod to 1980s industrial synth music of “Autumn” keeps up the momentum. It is a little more stripped-back and sinister, but the clever lyrics are really the focus of each track. This doomy paean to oblivion — “The perfect day to give up -thinking” – gives us more of a perspective on George’s outlook; a bit nihilistic, a touch of world-weary sarcasm. The words just come tumbling out on “Practice”. Anyone who can drop “somatic responses” and “genetically promiscuous” into a song is clearly in love with the language, and you can really feel it.

He is channelling MES just a touch on “Repetition”, insisting after every other line “that the kids love repetition”. It is a post-punk stomp with clattering drums and insistent, repetitive refrain while the bouncy Europop vibe of “Nargo” is the exact opposite. It is pretty amusing watching the song drift off into Eurovision land. Some of the lines are irresistible: “James talks about interest rates, I’ve always said that” — it is like some internal diatribe that has leaked to the surface and he is unable to stop it, just about keeping the song on track as the words split off at tangents.

There is a nod to Suicide on the self-loathing-filled “Remorse” and everything is thrown into the pot on final track “Norman”, with changes of tempo and double-tracked voices appearing at unlikely moments. The sentiments here are the exact opposite of the previous track, and it goes to show that each piece exists in its own world. I like to think of George inhabiting all these different characters as he delivers the lines and struggles to control the direction of the tracks.

XIV:Surrounder is a pretty cool album and definitely one for the synth-loving logophiles out there. Just put the record on and revel in the obsessive poetry of it.

-Mr Olivetti-