Eyeless In Gaza, formed by Martyn Bates and Peter Becker in 1980, have been one of the most consistent and original outfits to emerge out of the post-punk/new wave era, yet I have always been puzzled, sometimes even dismayed, at the seemingly total and collective stepping over of their body of work by the music media at large. It's difficult to imagine to what this can be attributed, especially when taking into account the undeniable quality of nearly everything they've released, but I suspect it has something to do with their outright refusal to acknowledge the latest musical trends in their own sound. Any time something new comes around, it seems that they've either done it already or, in hindsight, they get around to it when they damn well please. There is a particular type of evolution to the music of Eyeless In Gaza, a sort of infinitely rising spiral staircase, simultaneously covering roughly the same ground each time it curls back on itself and raising itself up to new heights.
On Summer Salt/Subway Sun (originally released by A-Scale as a single album, here re-released in deluxe double-disc form), we see Eyeless moving through a few different major planes of experimentation. The multi-instrumental duo -- which utilizes a diverse arsenal encompassing everything from traditional drum machines, synths, and guitars to tapes, harmonica, and glasses -- slide flawlessly from utterly celestial, open electro-acoustic tracks, through more avant-folk, troubadour-like chanties (a form which is used much less here than on previous releases) into unabashed, bass-driven post-punk jams. It's interesting how little percussion is utilized throughout the whole affair. A highly neutered drum kit and occasional drum machines serve only to flesh out the rhythms established by the bass.
Bates' voice is in top form and sounds as pure and clear as it ever has. If you have experience with Eyeless, you are surely aware of Bates' vocal tendency towards the melodramatic, and indeed he teeters constantly here on that particular verge. A larger issue that I have with the vocals here, however, is that, as good as they sound, Bates delivers almost every line of every song identically. While there is something to be said for the consistent, dreamy essence evident throughout the record(s), which in some sense serves to unify the whole affair, there really is only so much one can be expected to take of Bates' exaggerated intoning without desiring change.
Lyrically, Bates focuses primarily on a few specific motifs, such as confusion, mistrust, alienation, disbelief, and loss of faith. There are also small outbursts of outright joy and awe in the face of beauty that helps lighten the mood significantly. Although the folk leanings in the music of EIG have largely been left behind on this album, the lyrics retain a distinct note of minstrel-ness. These songs often use images and metaphors dealing with nature that enhance the bardic feeling. For example, on “All-New,” Bates sings “Sleep, remembering all the crying fire/ Still in the night/ Quiet as the waters lie/ Over where swallows would fly” and on “Broken,” “Smoulder like sapphire/ Jewels that I will wear/ Burning as quick fire... the deep winter glow into oblivion/to crush the diamond there.” Surprisingly, the lyrics, like the vocals, sometimes veer dangerously towards melodrama, but rarely do they ever actually spill over.
The production is extraordinary. The instruments are all easily discernible, and each sound is as finely detailed as possible. Paradoxically, this winds up being both a blessing and a curse. Certainly Bates' voice, the guitars, synths, and percussion all reap the benefits, but certain instruments (the tapes, field recordings, and harmonica, for example) lose something in their glossy sheen. A field recording of a rainy city street with cars going by or a tape loop of strange old men speaking foreign languages and laughing just feel sort of limp, deprived of the sort of archaic, mystical energy that seems to be among the goals of these appropriations. Their entire raison d'etre is lost as soon as they are dispossessed of their datedness, and in attempting to update or polish them, they become utterly obsolete.
I feel that I would be ethically remiss if I failed to dedicate some time to how lovingly the album is packaged. Beta-lactam Ring really went the distance with this one. The two discs come packaged together in a glossy, mega-sturdy fold-out box and individually in glossy cardboard cases. The discs themselves are encased in semicircular wax-paper-esque sleeves to prevent scratching and dusting. Also in the box is a fantastic little glossy (gloss was the flavor of the day I guess) lyrics booklet. Indeed, this is one of the most well-packaged releases I've seen in a very, very long time.
Last year at the Oscars, when Joel and Ethan Coen accepted the Best Picture award for No Country for Old Men, they thanked everyone for letting them play in their little corner of the sandbox for so long (or something like that). I get a similar feeling about Eyeless In Gaza, though they get much less recognition for their music than the Coens do for their films. They operate wholly outside the mainstream, doing whatever they are possessed to do at any given moment. This isn't a career-defining release, but given the overall quality of what Eyeless In Gaza have been able to produce from their corner of the sandbox, it's further evidence that maybe we ought to just fence that area in.
Disc 1:
1.Dust Box/Subway Sun
2.Whitening Rays
3. Mixed Choir
4.Summer Salt
5. The 3-D Picture
6. Before Beginning
7. Where Vivid Bloomed
8. Paper Aeroplanes
9. Antipathy Whisper
10. Ebbing All The Years
11. Ghost Blocks
Disc 2:
1. Star Pool, Milky Way
2. All New
3. I Told You It Wouldn't Rain
4. Phantom Music
5. Zeal
6. One-Legged
7. Broken
8. Antiphony Whispers
9. Song-Like in the Dead Night
10. Five Songs
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