"For a city so adverse to ghosts, so obsessed with
a glossy veneer, so enamoured with money and the dogged pursuit
of one-upping your neighbour, there’s no surprise Sydney spawns
bands as deliberately contrary as Naked on the Vague, albeit in
the subterranean realm. For NOTV, mere existence is enough validation
in a city where the odds are against them. Cultural outlets are
frequently threatened in favour of noiseless homes for inner city
dwellers (once a contradiction, now a council’s obligation)
and whole constellations of new music are muffled by a policeman’s
admonishing finger.
This is the climate Naked On The Vague has evolved in, though up
until now their inspiration seemed derived from elsewhere, most
obviously the squat legacy of New York’s 80s No Wave movement.
If this has been the sole point of contention for their detractors
in the past, then The Blood Pressure Sessions is likely to disarm
anyone still wary. There is something evocatively primeval about
this debut full-length: it’s a well-sequenced collection of
gravel textured pop songs, coloured with wailing reverberated vocals
and disaffected gestures, embedded within grimy, anti-establishment
compositions. The No Wave connection is still obviously there –
most notable on previously released tracks such as the violently
repetitive *All Aboard *– but these songs don’t settle
on violence as a sole virtue: there is a heart to be explored, lyrics
to be deciphered, and a pervasive sense of mystery.
The Blood Pressure Sessions sounds like the frustration –
that inherently youthful frustration – that comes with feeling
marginalised. Capitalising on ones misfortune has become unfashionable
in today’s middle-of-the-road straddling climate, but The
Blood Pressure Sessions, through sheer aural suggestion, makes it
all seem so necessary. This is a welcome reminder that Sydney can
still produce something haunted, rough around the edges, and imbued
with soul."
Mess
and Noise review by Shaun Prescott
"This two-piece Australian act, consisting of Lucy
Cliche and Matt Hopkins, apparently popped into being simply from
finding old, broken instruments. Now, if all the kids coming across
battered organs (not mine, thanks) sounded this good, we'd be in
business! And make no mistake, these kids are the business. 'Old
Leader' is our introduction, as oscillating waves of synth warp
across the duo's shared vocals, punctuated by distorted cymbal crashes.
It's Gloom, alright, but Cureheads will get nothing out of this.
This is distilled nihilism, filtered through the brain of a Scissor
Girls groupie on downers. 'All Aboard' is the closest we get to
a dance track, which is fine by me! "All aboard, the ship is
sinking! Jump on the tracks, the train is coming!" Lucy spits,
while a hypnotic keyboard line keeps pace with a simple drum machine
beat. 'Mother's Footsteps' trots out the noise guitar and stuttering
vocals, punctuated by shrieks, and 'The Horse, He's Sick' is psychedelic
minimal with clanks and drones stumbling over themselves. 'Brown
Sun/Sydney Lane Roads' is not quite an homage to the ol' hometown,
unless they spend a good part of their time there with their mind
a-reeling on drugs and liquor (and who's to say they don't?) 'Lonely
Boys' has creepy warbling, with the duo turning themselves into
human didgeridoos. Very Swans influenced, with a touch of that early
Coil mind-jism. The jangly 'God Nor Devil', supported by teeter-totter
guitars, snare the listener with steel cords. Mysterious and echoing,
'Blood Pressure' brings to mind barren, flat wastelands, echoing
with thuds and wooden clatters. 'The Beach 2' transforms foghorns
into synth lines, as the guitar trickles down into a mush of sound,
becoming static and oscillating waves once more. This excellent
little dark'n'nasty is one of two debut releases. Can't wait for
the other!"
- Drop Dead Magazine review.
Since their emergence a few years ago, apparently with just
a found organ, broken bass guitar, borrowed drum and some ‘old
doom poetry’ in their arsenal, Sydney duo Lucy Phelan and Matthew
Hopkins have managed to carve out a distinctive presence amongst that
city’s experimental / underground scene as Naked On The Vague.
In fact, it’s arguable that NOTV’s open-minded fusion of
elements drawn equally from the No Wave / noise scenes as from classic
psychedelia (and what the duo themselves describe as ‘apocalyptic
pop’) has been one of the prime reasons why they’ve previously
been selected as local tour support for such diverse acts as Kevin Blechdom,
The Gossip and Love Of Diagrams. Whatever your personal take, NOTV are
certainly not easy to pigeonhole into any immediate genre / scene, and
this debut album The Blood Pressure Sessions, which follows on the heels
of their recent Sad Sun CDR EP release on Sabbatical, continues to make
any easy attempts at categorisation elusive.
If opening track ‘Old Leader’ shows the duo’s more
doomy psychedelic leanings rising to the forefront, with spooky, heavily-reverbed
vocals looming out in the mix amidst harsh bursts of snare percussion,
droning organ tones and the sorts of sickeningly churning synth swells
Throbbing Gristle deployed to maximal effect on ‘Hamburger Lady’,
it’s hardly indicative of what’s on offer here. ‘All
Aboard’ manages to kick things straight out of the preceding track’s
drowsy fugue, unleashing perhaps this album’s most immediately
accessible ‘hooky’ offering, with Phelan’s powerful
vocals taking things towards post-punk / goth, while Hopkin’s
bass provides Killing Joke-esque propulsive rhythm amidst a tight backbone
of martial, punching beats, before ‘Mothers Footsteps’ manages
to up the ante with its scream-laden flameout of fuzzed-up guitar noise
and Suicide-esque drum machine rhythms.
If the aforementioned two tracks represent the more ‘punk assault’-oriented
side of NOTV’s approach, ‘The Horse, He’s Sick’
shows them sliding out into deep psychedelica as monotonous drum rhythms,
bass and buzzing analogue electronics send Phelan’s drowsy vocals
soaring out into a disorienting wash of delayed-out loops, while ‘Brown
Sun / Sydney Lane Road’ offers up what’s perhaps this collection’s
most gentle moment, with gently chiming guitar chords, rippling percussive
textures and distant organs tones providing a warm textural backdrop
for Phelan’s wordless vocal harmonies – indeed, it’s
the closest thing to an ‘uncharacteristically sunny moment’
as NOTV get here. The Blood Pressure Sessions is certainly an impressive
debut album offering from NOTV that shows the duo using the broader
canvas afforded them to expand considerably upon the possibilities hinted
at on their preceding EP and 7? releases, and one that’s likely
to further their cred with both indie fans and ‘experimental’
/ noise heads alike.
- Chris Downton cyclic
defrost
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