Githead - "Art Pop"

Githead - Drop (Swim 2007)

Githead – Art Pop / Swim

Though I can’t remember his exact phrasing, a colleague of mine once proclaimed that everything he learned about balancing experimental music and pop came from Wire. The long-lived London four-piece was one of, if not the actual reason for having to invent a new genre tag for punk-based experimental music. Is there a more quintessential post-punk album than Chairs Missing? And most impressively, beneath the barrage of unpredictable and intense explorations into the depths of punk and music in general, there was always the foundation of a pop song. I am not necessarily drawing comparisons to something buoyant or playful, but there is a reason that those songs get imbedded in your consciousness so easily.

Throughout the years, Wire guitarist/vocalist Colin Newman has emerged as the most productive of the four original members continuously pushing his creative boundaries in a number of different manners, from ambient solo artist to remixer to establishing the genre-less Swim Records to creating one of the web’s premier hubs for experimental labels in posteverything.com. Somewhat surprising though is that it took Newman nearly thirty years to put together a true pop-rock group. Teaming with his wife and former bassist for the Israeli new wave/art-pop group Minimal Compact, Malka Spigel, and ambient composer Robin Rimbaud (aka Scanner), Githead came together in 2004 and near immediately released the incredibly intriguing Headgit EP on Newman and Spigel’s Swim label. Surprising to say the least, a few heads were baffled by the trio’s seemingly straightforward approach to art-pop, but obviously thanks to the musicians involved, the music transcended genre boundaries and intertwined elements of post-punk, Brit-pop, shoegaze, dub, funk and experimental rock. 2005’s debut full-length, Profile, found the group further developing their palette, but I don’t feel they hit their stride until this sophomore album, Art Pop.

Though Art Pop’s rhythmic backbone is still decisively rigid, I think one of the best moves by the band was replacing “The Beat Monster” (the drum machine used extensively on the first two releases) with Minimal Compact’s drummer Max Franken. Now the rhythm section matches the fluidity of the lulling guitar interplay and atmospheric soundscapes. Like the previous releases, Spigel’s sinuous and supple bass leads each song creating the surprising dub-like grooves that make up Art Pop. She also provides wonderfully sensual vocals to match Newman’s own deadpan delivery. Meanwhile, Rimbaud and Newman color each song with continuously melodic guitar playing that easily bounds from more angular work to circular patterns and shoegaze-like waves. It makes for a deeply textural, and multi-dimensional sound that is nearly impossible to pinpoint on a timescale and surprisingly unpredictable. It’s pop-rock, but refined, elaborate and imaginative.

Attempting to highlight a couple of the songs as good assessments of the overall sound has been a futile endeavor. The first four songs alone sound completely different from each other: “On Your Own” sets up the album very simply mixing classic Brit-pop with Pixies like avant-pop though less frantic (“Rotterdom” takes this mix to even better levels), “Drop” moves in the opposite direction strutting on Spigel’s deep-funk bass line and Newman’s hypnotizing vocals and tight electric guitar chops, “Drive By” ups the fuzz and urgency easily shadowing Wire’s more straightforward work (which is later near perfected in the irresistible “All Set Up”), and finally “Lifeloops” is a delicate acoustic guitar-driven number delicately narrated by Spigel’s echoing coo. And that’s not even the entire first half of the album! Where I felt Profile lingered on with the same sound a bit too long, Art Pop does an amazing job of creating an overarching vibe while using each song for a separate exploration into their sound.

I cannot quite figure out why Githead seems to be completely overlooked by the U.S. music market (I honestly have no idea if the attention it receives overseas is any more substantial). Granted it’s not the most buzzworthy sound, but with the musicians involved you would think that respect would be paid more wholeheartedly. And it’s a shame too, because while everyone is digging around for the next youthful flavor of the month, here is quality, inventive and downright infectious music created by artists who have spent decades perfecting their craft. While Art Pop may be a little more grown up and refined than a lot of the pop swirling around the market these days, it’s also an album you won’t be sick of three months down the road.