And so the mystery man emerged from the black hole of isolation and played an eclectic set of fresh originals at the Instal Festival in Glasgow, Scotland on Sunday, October 17, 2004. Richard Youngs and Alexander Neilsen joined him on bass and drums respectively. Bootlegs and rumors spread rapidly throughout the internet. Being the provocateur that he is, Jandek decided to book more gigs in 2005 and has released an official live document of the Instal '04 set.
Glasgow Sunday may be the official document of this event, but it does nothing to dispel the conspiracy theories abound. The same artwork aesthetic that is present on his other releases is present here. No liner notes are included (surprise!) and the players on the album are not listed. I'm not even going to waste your time by analyzing the cover. I'll let Byron Colely do that.
The album begins with a few ground-shaking low bass notes and collapses into an orgy of skronk. Jandek and his band draw from the electric guitar-driven songs from the Rocks Crumble era, an era that I've always believed was more indebted to No Wave than folk-blues. He seems genuinely reinvigorated by the band, as his despondent warble has not sounded this desperate since the mid-'90s. Youngs' black void of bass notes and the accentual drumming of Neilson give Jandek space to work his black magic.
The thing that always amazed me about Jandek is how oppressive his music is. It is like a glimpse into a twisted, damaged soul. His stream-of-consciousness lyrics dwindle in the mind of the listener like a picture of a dead loved one. He also records with a small group of masked men, didn't reveal his face to a mass audience until 25 years after his first record, and writes more songs in the second person than Morrissey. Somehow in front of an audience, the dynamics have changed. All of Jandek's pain, longing, and despair is secondary. His playing-in-front-of-a-wall-in-a-rundown-hotel-room imagery is shattered and, instead, fans are embracing his music in a live setting. This could be the beginning of a new chapter.
1. Not Even Water
2. Where I Stay
3. Darkness You Give
4. Sea of Red
5. Real Wild
6. Don't Want to Be
7. Blue Blue World
8. The Other Side
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