TWO HEADED EMPEROR
Wireless of the North & Clean Your House
Right away, the first track ‘Posturing’ from “Wireless of the North” reels you in with its sincerity and insight. There are lines about trying to be something you’re not, life as a façade and references to the digital age to a heavily electronic 80s vibe, described on the band’s BANDCAMP page as “edgy, punk influenced Art Rock.” Barry Lamb (Falling A Records - see separate interview) and Peter Ashby are the two gentlemen delivering a quite unique and honest brand of music, unrefined at times and reflecting the angst and chaos felt by more ‘out there’ bands of the 80s such as The Fall and Joy Division.
As it turns out though, from an early age the two friends were introduced to the music of more progressively inclined bands like Van Der Graaf Generator, Frank Zappa and King Crimson, and there are places in the occasional flurries of Barry’s sax and the angular guitar work of Peter that these influences emerge, transmogrified to fit an approach to music making at the more experimental and homespun end of the spectrum. As Barry alluded to in the interview the aforementioned bands and also the likes of Soft Machine, Henry Cow and the Canterbury scene are important to Two Headed Emperor’s foundation and rationale. David Bowie’s Berlin period is also most influential. Overall, eclecticism is the key.
The singing is sometimes anguished and at times barely distinguishable, but the lyrics are always worth probing, revealing their messages on repeated listening. To my ears the voice of Peter Hammill, once removed comes to the fore on tracks like ‘No Shame’ and ‘The Tapestry of Oddities’ on the latest Two Headed Emperor album “Clean Your House”, the more experimental of the two, although “Wireless of the North”, on tracks like the nine-minute long ‘Fight or Flight’ sees the duo branch out with percussion and wandering sax before entering a musical ‘Twilight Zone’: a ‘disembodied’ voice, a repetitive, at times fractured, guitar (and bass line 5-minutes or so in) delivering a somewhat unnerving but rewarding listening experience. Some of the music is really catchy in an eighties kind of way, with wry humour on songs like ‘Chaos (Ha!Ha!)’ from “Clean Your House” as a vehicle to deliver some serious messages about today’s cultural, social and political landscape. Two Headed Emperor’s music can be heard on Bandcamp and more information found by visiting www.barrylamb.com and www.fallingarecords.com
- Phil Jackson
Wireless of the North & Clean Your House
Right away, the first track ‘Posturing’ from “Wireless of the North” reels you in with its sincerity and insight. There are lines about trying to be something you’re not, life as a façade and references to the digital age to a heavily electronic 80s vibe, described on the band’s BANDCAMP page as “edgy, punk influenced Art Rock.” Barry Lamb (Falling A Records - see separate interview) and Peter Ashby are the two gentlemen delivering a quite unique and honest brand of music, unrefined at times and reflecting the angst and chaos felt by more ‘out there’ bands of the 80s such as The Fall and Joy Division.
As it turns out though, from an early age the two friends were introduced to the music of more progressively inclined bands like Van Der Graaf Generator, Frank Zappa and King Crimson, and there are places in the occasional flurries of Barry’s sax and the angular guitar work of Peter that these influences emerge, transmogrified to fit an approach to music making at the more experimental and homespun end of the spectrum. As Barry alluded to in the interview the aforementioned bands and also the likes of Soft Machine, Henry Cow and the Canterbury scene are important to Two Headed Emperor’s foundation and rationale. David Bowie’s Berlin period is also most influential. Overall, eclecticism is the key.
The singing is sometimes anguished and at times barely distinguishable, but the lyrics are always worth probing, revealing their messages on repeated listening. To my ears the voice of Peter Hammill, once removed comes to the fore on tracks like ‘No Shame’ and ‘The Tapestry of Oddities’ on the latest Two Headed Emperor album “Clean Your House”, the more experimental of the two, although “Wireless of the North”, on tracks like the nine-minute long ‘Fight or Flight’ sees the duo branch out with percussion and wandering sax before entering a musical ‘Twilight Zone’: a ‘disembodied’ voice, a repetitive, at times fractured, guitar (and bass line 5-minutes or so in) delivering a somewhat unnerving but rewarding listening experience. Some of the music is really catchy in an eighties kind of way, with wry humour on songs like ‘Chaos (Ha!Ha!)’ from “Clean Your House” as a vehicle to deliver some serious messages about today’s cultural, social and political landscape. Two Headed Emperor’s music can be heard on Bandcamp and more information found by visiting www.barrylamb.com and www.fallingarecords.com
- Phil Jackson
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