Unanimous Weld Enunciations 1979 / Mental Experience 2017
Slights Still Unspoken
Post-punk artifact from Down Under that had to resurface and resonate with our era.
Emerging in Sydney in 1976, this quintet upped their antennas high enough to catch the vibes from the U.K. and let them shift along with the times and move past “no future” idiom. Their chosen genre didn’t have roots in Australia, so there’s little surprise in the ensemble’s failure to ignite the continent, yet their efforts left some trace on local culture.
The collective’s DIY debut single “State” could be influenced by beat groups from the ’60s, what with cheap organ backing simple guitar chords, but they applied nihilistic sneer to the sweet tune, while the soulful baroque of interwoven vocals on B-side “A Secret West” reveals potential for sophistication which wouldn’t be realized on the collective’s only LP. Expanded now with the ’45’s tracks and a couple of cleaner, previously unreleased cuts from the same sessions, “Slights Unspoken” has gained “Still” – only it isn’t static at all. The album’s opener “Voices A Drama” is theatrical and also too hysterical, especially in singer Rae Macron Cru’s exuberance and Rod Pobestek’s guitar buzz, to zip the listener’s skin, as they do in “4 Hours” – sparsely impressive and leading into “P” whose minute-long romance can hardly prepare anyone for the epic, cosmic madness of “F1” that’s nothing to do with races.
Likewise, although “Red Lock On See Steal” may seem like an attempt to harness spaced-out spirit of the era, many a ear will turn away from the piece’s futile clang, whereas the nervously noir “A Welcome Mystery” is lapsing into repetition. By the same token, if “Many Risk” is the closest the band come to rock ‘n’ roll, Imprint” has “pointless” written all over its chaotic yelping. But that was the whole point, since the record was laid down after bassist Lindsay O’Meara had accepted the offer to join CRIME & THE CITY SOLUTION, and VOIGT/465 knew there would be no further moves. No future, indeed, yet to hear it all now feels somehow relevant to current atmosphere; that’s why “Slights” shouldn’t be consigned to history.
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