Three years ago, I featured London's ghastly goth garage rockers the Horrors in this column and was dazzled by their depravity and "perfectly coiffed mops." They were a spectacle, to say the least, and for the most part, aside from their obvious seduction of the gullible UK press, never lived up to the hype, or those enormous hairdos and ostentatious Victorian vampire suits of theirs. That said, their debut LP, Strange House, managed to exceed my expectations, and deserved more appreciation.
Well, I think they're about to get it.
After finding a new home at XL, the band hired the talented ear of Portishead's Geoff Barrow to produce their forthcoming album, Primary Colours (due May 5). Needless to say, I am gobsmacked by the first single, an eight-minute beauty that discards the raucous trashed garage of old. Instead of worshipping at the altar of Nick Cave and the Cramps, the Horrors now engulf their sinister throwback sound in deep Krautrock trances and '60s psychedelia whilst still managing to hold on to their spooky shtick. The result is an ambitious piece that recalls the likes of Broadcast, Primal Scream's "Autobahn 66" and, in its second half where the arpeggiated synthesizers run amok and it becomes completely unidentifiable, Portishead's "The Rip."
It is easily one of the best tracks I've heard this year and hopefully is a strong indication of what's to come from the full-length.
The Horrors "Sea Within A Sea"
Well, I think they're about to get it.
After finding a new home at XL, the band hired the talented ear of Portishead's Geoff Barrow to produce their forthcoming album, Primary Colours (due May 5). Needless to say, I am gobsmacked by the first single, an eight-minute beauty that discards the raucous trashed garage of old. Instead of worshipping at the altar of Nick Cave and the Cramps, the Horrors now engulf their sinister throwback sound in deep Krautrock trances and '60s psychedelia whilst still managing to hold on to their spooky shtick. The result is an ambitious piece that recalls the likes of Broadcast, Primal Scream's "Autobahn 66" and, in its second half where the arpeggiated synthesizers run amok and it becomes completely unidentifiable, Portishead's "The Rip."
It is easily one of the best tracks I've heard this year and hopefully is a strong indication of what's to come from the full-length.
The Horrors "Sea Within A Sea"
