![]() ![]() 1981 LP World Of Rubber occupies the first two sides, EPs Flesh As Property and State Of Emergency (19, respectively) take the third, and the fourth is given over to previously unreleased demos. You’re getting the full monty on this Dark Entries set, and the double LP format of the reissue dovetails perfectly with Second Layer’s discography. ![]() While the odd tune does point towards the sort of churning propulsion The Sound would go on to master (like the relentless “Fixation”), the buzzing dirge of “Underneath The Gloss” is far more reflective of Second Layer’s discomfort mechanique. Winding but lockstep tunes clip along with this sparse arrangement, occasionally ending mid phrase or being subjected to the sort of odd stereo panning or clipping which likely leads most listeners to think there’s something amiss with their headphones. Borland’s vocals, so often used to communicate the most personal anxieties (think of song titles like “I Can’t Escape Myself”) is oddly disaffected and imagistic. Rather, Bailey’s forward but metronomic bass carries most of the weight, with shearing textures from Borland’s guitar. The shadow of Borland’s eventual succumbing to schizoaffective depression can’t help but hang over the band’s discography, but years before his troubles caused the dissolution of The Sound, Borland and Sound bassist Graham Bailey formed side project Second Layer.įar more occluded and estranged than The Sound, Second Layer’s compositions hold a good deal in common with what we now generally sweep into the minimal wave camp, even though electronics are mostly limited to sparse drum programming and the odd sampled squawking klaxon. ![]() Across six albums and a handful of EPs, vocalist and guitarist Adrian Borland and company delivered high-wire emotion with a raw intensity that would have been impossible to bear was it not delivered in the form of near perfect songcraft. ![]() South London band The Sound spent a decade banging their head against a glass ceiling to a fiery but ultimately doomed beat. ![]()
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