The record is a monument of 1980’s synth music. It has the clever melodies, the electronic composition and the freshness of a new style of music strung through with a D.I.Y. innocence endemic to much of the best minimal synth.
It was a bitterly cold day in Belfast when I collected the first releases of Dark Entries from the Post Depot. I met a friend on the way back to my place. I was moving to Glasgow and that was my last run to collect records from the large mirror glassed Royal Mail building next to Custom House square in the centre of that historically troubled city. Fast forward nearly one year and it is a Dark Entries release that meets me when I am in the midst of moving house. This time it is the record I missed out on in Belfast, Eleven Pond and Bas Relief. The original re-issue sold out quickly, but due to popular demand it is back in another five hundred copies. I was listening to the Mick Wills edit of “Watching Trees” as I opened the San Francisco stamped package. What had I missed from Dark Entries in that box destined for Candahar St, Belfast?
Eleven Pond hail from the US, releasing Bas Relief in 1986. The curiously named “Tear and Cinnamon” opens the LP in a haze of guitars and drumbeats. The solos have a lonesome quality to them, with post punk notes coming through in the arches of distortion. “Watching Trees” (Soundcloud stream below) is an absolute gem. It runs along the lines of catchy new wave perfection. It is the kind of track you find yourself humming on the bus and singing around the house. The lyrics, “I want to be, in a tree, watching you watching trees” do not lend themselves to an addictiveness on reading; but blended with some superb synthwork and unrequited love then everything falls into place. “Days Hence” is a slow autumnal piece that folds in the notes of “Tightrope.” “Portugal” has an edge of lost romance to it. The tempo rises, but is kept in check by the synth, string and bass. The vocals have a subtle doubling to them, adding a sombre slant to upbeat nature of the instrumentals.
The light draining “Asterisk” opens the B-Side. 1980s unhappiness drips from the speakers, with powerful vocals being at the apex of the track. The uncertainty seems to be vanquished with the cheery chords of “Moving Nowhere.” Warmth enters into the strings, with synths taking a sideline. Yet, this “Nowhere” is not exactly a positive place; one more of “buildings burning” and “blood flows.” “Changing Faces” sees the return of synthesizers, with the vocals being cleaned up for the return of the analogue heavies. Strings are employed beautifully to create a crisp piece of clever synthwave. Things are slowed down for “Temporeal” before guitars display disgust in the powerful “Ignorant Father.” The brief “Ask” brings down the curtain on Bas Relief.
Sadly, while still living in Belfast, I missed out on this great release. Thankfully DE001 has found itself, by the cry of synth wave zealots, being repressed. The record is a monument of 1980’s synth music. It has the clever melodies, the electronic composition and the freshness of a new style of music strung through with a D.I.Y. innocence endemic to much of the best minimal synth. If you missed out on Bas Relief in 2009 don’t kick yourself and do the same in 2010/2011.
Bas Relief is out now on Dark Entries. [Listen | Purchase]
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