#electrelane

1/10/26.

Around this time of the year, it can be a bit challenging to find new music, so patience in snooping pays off. It took longer than usual to stumble upon "Playland" from Supermoon.

I was immediately taken by the single guitar notes (Kaye Woodward-esque) and Chills-like bass lines. When I saw the band was from Vancouver, British Columbia, I kind of assumed this was released on Mint Records. Indeed it was - a bit more in the past than I originally thought though. This was the band's 2nd release and it came out in May 2016. Jay Arner worked with the band on their first EP.

I can't help but think of bands like Grass Widow, Look Blue Go Purple, Electrelane, and now (at times) Memorials. Band members played in Adrian Teacher and The Subs, PUPS and Movieland.

Released - March 12th 2007

Highest UK Chart Position - Did not chart

First Heard - Cheap CD, 2017

I had a kind of mini-breakdown a few years ago, and one of the records that I listened to a lot thru that time was Electrelane’s last album, No Shouts, No Calls. Not because the subject matter had anything to do with what was going on (it didn’t), but because it’s a record with a powerful emotional wallop and that was what I needed to prop me up back then. To The East is one of the best songs on that album and while it’s not really a happy song and certainly one that I associate with an unhappy time, I only have good memories of it: it seems to warp reality around itself.

It starts with just a kick drum and a single repeated bass note, but builds gradually and gains pace as it gets wrapped up in Verity Suzeman’s plea to an absent lover. I think the key to its greatness is that, though her longing is unmistakable, she never sounds very convinced that it will change anything: you can tell that it’s a waste of time and yet she does it all anyway, she really can’t help herself. And so, when the song takes off in the chorus, the burst of emotion that breaks is like a dam-burst, an uncontrolled flood of wailing which eventually just couldn’t be contained. Backed by a step change in the music, as the guitars kick up and the group harmonies storm in behind her, it forms a kind of knock-out blow: its effect on me is very similar to being hit in the head with a frying pan.