POPPYCOCK - Magic Mothers (Tiny GLOBAL Productions CD & Vinyl)
Good things come to they who wait, and the wait for Poppycock's debut has been so long, that at times it seemed unlikely that the expectations would ever be fulfilled. The brainchild of former original Fall member Una Baines, the band operate in a folk and indie ethos, with a sprinkling of jazzy blues. Feminist and reflective, they hark back to a time when pop had educational aspects, providing food for thought. Subtle and challenging they have delivered a strangely shrewd and inspiring collection. Melodic, quirky and with references so varied, the album operates in its own time zone, though it could have arrived in any decade since the sixties. Their wonderful slab of ironic adulation, the single "Iggy Pop," though absent here, was a perfect indication of what would await within Magic Mothers. A pop song about a pop star. Pop goes the easel!
Magic Mothers strolls into view with "Let It Out." It's a madrigal of reflective grace, a gossamer, silken song of immense elegance and power. A hymn to the elemental link to nature, to being a part of the planet, an urban or suburban weaving of threads.
"Primeval cry, the shrieking birth
The will to cherish, this precious earth
Let it out. time to let it out"
"Song For Jean" is blues with a North of England twist, an elegy of remembrance of dark satanic mills relocated to a New Orleans bar. Poignant and assured.
"NDE" or "Near Death Experience" presents a coy, tongue in chic, keyboard based piece of superlative sixties themed irony. Best revealed by the repetition of the line "The day my keyboard exploded." Pop irony with a wry smile. Within "Lizardman" there's a throbbing sense of menace, an almost gothic feel in the bass line, and the searing organ motif. It has a hypnotic mantra-like ethos.
"Gaslighting" presents an elegant sense of challenge and defiance in a casually laconic, melodic setting.
"Gaslighting
I'm not biting
You can't rewrite my history
Trying to persuade me
You never hurt me"
In "Trinity" there's a strummed Velvet Underground aspect lacing the challenging lyric, melody and malevolence combine. An influence Baines rightfully earned from the days when her band The Blue Orchids were Nico's backing band. There's a graceful folk element that gifts the song a timely timelessness.
"Virgin/ Mother/Hag
Washing your ancient rag
Seed/Fruit Leaf
Banish the ancient thief"
"Hel" is a starkly faltering and honest song. A prayer and a plea for better things and kinder times. It's a cross between Laurel Canyon wistfulness and tranquil Glastonbury mellowness, but with an urban edge.
"A good man I used to know
ended his life one day
He wanted what must of us want
A world where there'll be fair play."
"Magic Mothers" has a sassy angry vibe in sync with a persistent but catchy drum beat, it packs a solid rhythmic punch, with an unflinchingly direct lyric, and a strangely unsettling keyboard motif.
"I Am a Feminista. I am your sacred Sister
No Means No! Stop means Stop!
You mutter. I utter. You mutter.
I utter. You Mutter. I utter."
"Iron Age Dance" is tremendous. It's a funk, punk and jazz collision with rap--a mixed up sermon in a variety of languages, a collage of reflective musings. Beat poetry and found conversations. A perfect curtain closer.
Magic Mothers wears a pastoral sensibility in an concrete and tarmac setting; the grit that creates a pearl. Here's hoping that we won't have as long to wait for a sequel, but for now languish in the pleasure of a uniquely inspired tapestry of thoughtful delights.