Never a band to shy away from experimentation, either with their music or their release techniques and schedules, ‘Going, Going…’ may be The Wedding Present’s ninth release, but it never feels forced or out of kilter. It just feels like them. Experimenting.
‘Kittery’ starts off this epic 20 track (you heard me) LP and, compared to other Wedding Present releases, this really does indicate a change in tack. There’s a broadening of horizons and the openness to experimentation that they have always indicated toward. It’s a vocal free soundscape that builds and builds into a crescendo of guitar noise and keyboards that could easily soundtrack a Scandinavian noir murder mystery series. ‘Greenland’ follows quickly and is very much in the same vein. There are drums and guitar noise accompanying Katherine Wallinger’s voice, seemingly reading out the geographic coordinates of Greenland (maybe). It’s a very experimental sound, reminiscent of the ‘Numbers Stations’ recordings left over from the Cold War. ‘Marblehead’ again continues with Wallinger’s ethereal vocals, with quiet instrumentation in the background, before being jarred with David Gedge’s voice and more noise.
‘Sprague’ is a quiet gentle piano piece at the start, with some cello combined to create a beautiful piece right to the end. ‘Two Bridges,’ though, is classic Wedding Present with its fast guitars, tight songwriting and instrumentation. Only this time there is a great female voice harmonising with the guitar and noise. ‘Little Silver’ is a slow burner with slow, mellow guitars playing throughout. It carries through until the explosive feedback and distortion drenched guitar overwhelms with its ‘quiet/loud/quiet’ pregnant pauses just like the Steve Albini ‘Seamonsters’ years. ‘Bear’ is melodic and bass heavy with Wallinger’s vocals and yet again they add so much to the male harmonies to create multilayered loveliness.
‘Secretary’ is again classic Wedding Present, but is punked up and becomes quite angry. The same can be said of ‘Birdsnest,’ with its pained vocals and grungy measured lyricism. This is David Gedge at his best. ‘Bells’ is another cracking tune with lots of harmonies, Gedge finally laying his soul bare. It’s heart wrenchingly powerful stuff, while ‘Fifty – Six’ has a big throaty bassy intro and is just a devastatingly gorgeous sad song. It has an elongated ending, piling on the distortion which just adds to the melancholy. Lovely stuff. ‘Fordland’ and ‘Emporia’ take in sadness, happiness, loneliness and disappointment, grabbing you with their harmonies, uplifting tones and optimism for a better relationship. ‘Broken Bow’ has a big distorted sound and great chunky bassline. However, Gedge sounds quite bitter between the wall of noise.
‘Ten Sleep’ has a really distorted and rough sound that reminds one of Lightning Bolt but quickly morphs into Muse territory because of its guitar gymnastics. This soon dissipates into the jingly jangly guitar the band are best known for. Combined with the female harmonies, the sound they create is just beautiful. ‘Wales’ proves to be a real eye-opener. It’s atmospheric and, on top of this, there’s a voice reciting something in spoken word Welsh along with gentle guitar picking. It eventually ends with an all out guitar wall of noise followed by some gentle piano. It’s very reminiscent of Datblygu; absolutely undefinable, but lovely.
What Gedge and the rest of his band have achieved with Going, Going… is pretty special and should be applauded as a significant piece of modern art created in both trying and barren times. They have managed to combine high-brow art rock, noise experimentation and traditional “indie rock” to create a piece of work that can border on the whimsical and melodic, whilst straddling the unlistenable.
Going, Going… is out on 2nd September 2016.
