Three years ago The Brainiac 5 released Memory Or Dream and it was assumed to be the sign-off. A fabulous John Hurford sleeve depicting Mounts Bay, the St Michael’s Mount itself, the band’s old Commer van, and a derelict engine house. With original member folk-poet Bert Biscoe back in the line-up and a lot of Cornwall in the songs it was all a bit “in our end is our beginning” for a band who originally came together in the eclectic musical environments of West Penwith.
So a bit of a surprise this summer when word spread of a new collection of tunes being imminent, and now we have Excavating Popular Song, released on a revived Reckless Records. Bert is still onboard as are guitarists Charlie Taylor and Duncan Kerr, with John ‘Woody’ Wood on bass plus an array of exotic instruments from jew’s harp to kalimba; they’re augmented by the reappearing ‘Mermaid of Zennor’ Chrissy Quayle on sax, flute, and vocals, and more guitar from Simon Whaley of The Green Ray.
With the exception of the appropriately-named Taylor-penned instrumental ‘Cheerful’ it’s a mix of Taylor-Wood and Biscoe-Wood compositions. Across the dozen cuts the Brainiacs show themselves still true to their outer limits off-kilter-ness; their free-festival/folk club roots utterly entwined with post-punk agility, like a Magic Band with dub sensibilities.
The opener ‘Fighting’ throws us right into the middle of it, presenting an imagined encounter with Winston Churchill in a tumble of sound with changes of direction, surprise licks, and fluid guitar passages. It’s addressing contemporary issues: “There’s truly evil in this world – it’s not a religious dream/And when it starts to manifest we need to do more than scream”.
In similar vein are ‘White Flag’ and ‘Monsters Walk Among Us’; the former claustrophobic and busy, enhanced by Chrissy’s vocals, the latter allowing Woody to unveil his arsenal in a crunched-up dystopian melange becoming increasingly disturbing as it careens to its conclusion.
Bert’s songs tend to the reflective though a vignette like ‘Empty Bar’ contains cascades and clusters of voices while ‘Teenage Rooms’ cool jazzy vibe recalls young love and adventure. The pleasing skank of ‘Alice’; the tale of a hip archaeologist – “digging, digging, digging” – spawns the album title, and there’s apocalyptic intensity to the stand-out ‘Silent Dancing Stones’.
‘Gawd!’ opens with saxophone and it’s very much the poet’s story presented as a poet’s performance; everything sets the scene and serves the words, very much conjuring the atmosphere of smoky bar, black sweaters, Juliet Greco, and a jazz jukebox. Then at the last the affecting, regret-haunted ‘Postcard To The Vixen’; the granite and quarry pool indicate a Cornish setting; leaves us with simple, folk-tinged melancholy.
The album cover again shows us Cornwall but this time a darker version; another engine house, under thunderous skies and hovering bats, with Charles, Duncan and Bert peering into a freshly-dug hole exposing an old portable gramophone while Woody watches the skies. But if there’s darkness to Excavating Popular Song there’s equally thrill, excitement, and invention a-plenty; reason sufficient to celebrate the continued activity of The Brainiac 5.
Available now through The Brainiac 5’s Bandcamp
