Feeling good because it’s Friday? The footie is back after one of those interminable international breaks? Christmas is just around the corner?
You won’t be for long because The Below are back, too. The post-industrial, post-punkers, rooted in decay and misery. The band that took the hope out of dystopian. (Well, you get the idea).
They have a new EP, ‘Behaviour in Public Places’, this time featuring collaborations with Swedish vocalist and songwriter Jesper Hanning who was a member of Kraftwerk-influenced band Ausgang Verboten (love that) in the 1980s, then The Chainzaw Zombies, then Sofia Antenn, followed by Tabla Motors in the 1990s.
So if I understand it correctly this song ‘Tabla Motors’, whichis the focus track, is named for a previous band of the guest vocalist.
The EP by the way features five tracks altogether, two of which were not released as singles. Cumulatively, they rank amongst the darkest work they have produced to date.
You have been warned. Put the kids to bed right away.
The press release tells me that ‘Tabla Motors’ “captures the essence of ageing and the inevitable approach of death. The lyrics paint a picture of a troubled, threatening world where chaos and uncertainty reign. The once-revered gods are now abandoned, their temples crumbling into dust. In their place, new belief systems arise, offering hope and solace to weary souls seeking meaning amid the turmoil.”
Sounds just like Oldham. On a good day.
They like videos and not for the first time one has been created for them by Mike Coles, who has worked with Killing Joke, which is well known for their graphic profile.
The grainy, old TV or movie opening and repeating shots suggest Hiroshima. Or Kyiv (they’ve ventured into Ukraine previously for the song and supporting video ‘Artificial Lights [Dystopian Haze]’, set in Lviv and relating the theme of fear and the experience of living in bomb shelters). Perhaps even Manchester, soon. We’re top of Vlad’s premier nuking list, apparently. He’s probably upset by United’s constant changing of manager.
And here’s a thing. At 2:45 in the video the burning trees seem to take on the fiery outline of the roof of the Genbaku Dome, the only structure left standing near the hypocentre of the first atomic bomb and which is now the Hiroshima Peace Memorial and a UNESCO Heritage Site. Is that just my imagination or is it brilliant filmmaking?
Interspersed with all this are clips that could have come from factual political films made in the late 1930s or even have been lifted from ‘1984’, together with the shower scene in ‘Psycho’, ‘Chucky’, ‘Nosferatu’, ‘Godzilla’, and ‘Roswell’, apart from the obligatory shots of graveyards which contrast with those implying the permanence of heavy machinery. All surveyed by a particularly nasty looking crow or rook, both synonymous with bad omens.
But that isn’t all. Multi-coloured and somewhat incongruous visual collages that look like they escaped from a sci-fi movie are interwoven too.
The whole event is exceptionally good cinema, complementing a deeply thought-provoking song…
“Is it true that all our gods are dead?/Can someone tell us what they brought instead?”…
… Its ultra rapid shifts in imagery being right up there with those of the Weyes Blood song and (Adam Curtis) video ‘God turn me into a flower’.
At least Natalie Mering offered some optimism in her song. The Below offer none.
Find them on:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheBelow
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the_below_sweden/
