Andy Partridge is one of the great songwriters of the '80s and '90s, having pumped out some amazing stuff as the frontman for pop-punk band XTC. Barry Andrews provided some startling keyboards on XTC's first albums before heading off onto a solo career and forming the rock band Shriekback. Martyn Barker is also a member of Shriekback and has toured with Billy Bragg.
It's a great group of pedigrees, and hope is high for the trio's collaboration in Monstrance, a two-disc set of live, overdub- and edit-free music. Recorded in two jam sessions, it's as spontaneous as it gets. But the end result might not be quite what you'd expect of this meeting of minds.
Their philosophy was "to go in a room and just play! Have nothing worked out and no theme to aim for; let's just see what happens," Martyn Barker said in a press release.
Still, while it's an interesting idea and probably was a lot of fun at the time, Monstrance doesn't really rise much beyond the level of sonic curiosity for all but die-hard fans. In XTC, Andy Partridge's dazzling lyrics and emotive vocals are a highlight. But Monstrance is basically two albums of entirely instrumental jams, subtracting a big part of what Partridge's biggest gift is to this listener.
This set often goes off into long, droning reveries – hence the "trance" part of Monstrance, I suppose. Songs bleed into one another and bounce around between amiable grooves and a more biting angular attack that many might find grating. Andrews' keyboard stylings on XTC's early work was definitely a love-it-or-hate-it sound.
It's not bad music, full of clattering atmosphere, and from a technical standpoint well performed. Fans of more experimental instrumental tracks might want to check it out, but adorers of XTC and Shriekback's more polished songcraft might want to sample a few tunes before diving full-on into Monstrance.
Article comments
1 - Connie Phillips
Congrats! This article has been forwarded to the Advance.net websites and Boston.com (going live soon).
2 - Anon
This is a pretty half-assed review. Trust me, if you are a fan of XTC or Shriekback you WILL like this... A goal of their Monstrance project was NOT to be polished. It is a really cool recording, get in the spirit, and dive into something a little different form the chaps.