Paul Haig – Relive
If shock and awe was the plan, this is certainly mission accomplished.
What’s most surprising about Paul Haig isn’t that he’s still producing electrifying meshes of gnarly guitar, it’s that he’s doing it with so much zest. Balancing on the precipice between the quirky glitches of Talking Heads and New Order’s early gothic pulse, the ex-Josef K frontman’s latest LP, Relive, unfolds as a bone-rattling thrill that could energise the darkened corners of any dancefloor. Furnished with Haig’s emaciated bark, brilliant opener Trip Out The Rider grooves through a creepy maze of cathedral synths and maniacal guitar. Less frantic, but equally as contagious, is the bassy fog of So Contemporary, while Round & Round’s disorientating clang bleeds the ear-canals dry with its swirling production. Despite Listen To Me’s middle-aged lull, much of this is prickly stuff, spurred on by the riveting combination of grimy instrumentation and Haig’s terse, doom-laden reveries. If shock and awe was the plan, this is certainly mission accomplished. [Billy Hamilton]