The Wardrobe - A Sandwich Short (c) 2006 Tursa
Artist....: The Wardrobe
Album.....: A Sandwich Short
Type......: Album
Source....: CDDA
Tracks....: 14
Genre.....: Avantgarde
Label.....: Tursa
Catalogue#: TE002
Encoder...: LAME 3.90.3 Mod VBR
Quality...: VBR kbps / 44.1Hz / Joint-Stereo
URL.......: http://www.andrewliles.com
Tracklist:
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01 Wednesday 07:05
02 A Horse With One Leg 02:21
03 Another Drink 02:45
04 With Pessimistic Optimism 03:57
05 Lucifer Before Sunrise 05:08
06 10mg Of Diazepam 02:42
07 Crow Funeral (Terry And Dave Emigrate To Benidorm) 02:28
08 Rural Murders 04:01
09 In Defence Of Shoplifting 05:27
10 The Poor Broken Boy 02:09
11 A Sandwich Short 00:57
12 Yesterday Was Years Ago 03:10
13 Lysergic Eiderdown 02:19
14 Wednesday (Again) 03:07
Total:64,8 MB / 47:36 min
Release Notes:
--------------
One of my favorite albums of '05 was the first Tony Wakeford & Andrew
Liles collaboration as The Wardrobe titled 'Cups in Cupboard', which I
felt to be an evocative blend of folk-noir acoustics and strange
electronic accompaniment. That one was a tiny edition of 500, and a
number of them were lost en route across the Atlantic so it's even
less. A real rarity if you have one.'Cups' remains deleted but now we
are presented a new album from this curious duo. The first task at hand
was to look up the title, 'A Sandwich Short'. OK, this expression means
"lacking in intelligence." The absurd choice of a title carries on
something of a tradition for Wakeford's most avant garde releases,
going back to 'Revenge of the Selfish Shellfish' with Steven Stapleton
(designed to be a "totally stupid" project, according to Stapleton in
'England's Hidden Reverse'). The silly spirit is further represented by
the giant sandwich appearing on the back cover art and probably not a
romantic enough image for say, a Sol Invictus album.Despite the
lighthearted side to the proceedings there's always been much beauty to
be found in Wakeford's experimental efforts, and this album begins with
a piano led piece that continues in the vein of the dark romantic,
filmic qualities of 'Cups'. From there, 'Sandwich' starts getting
weirder and more sinister. Where 'Cups' maintained a relatively
consistent vibe, 'Sandwich' is better described as being made up of
many different parts, each track having its own odd character. The
acoustic instrumentation and electronic sounds change with every track,
dabbling in everything from accordian to didgeridoo. Despite the varied
musical approach there's a particular atmosphere of menace that stays
through this album. There are a number of dramatic peaks in the music,
contrasting with the consistently mellow 'Cups'. The foremost peak of
the album is surely the remake of "Lucifer Before Sunrise," originally
by Wakeford & Stapleton. It's years since I heard the original, I don't
recall exactly what it sounded like, but here it is just the most
delightfully Satanic track, its misanthropic lyrics made specially
potent by being delivered by the sweet young lasses, Helen & Alice
Potter. A brilliant idea.
In summary, 'Sandwich' ranks as perhaps the weirdest album Tony
Wakeford has ever released, and it even comes out on the weird side for
Andrew Liles. Everyone who enjoyed 'Cups in Cupboard' should surely
pick this up to hear where they've taken the project next. Everybody
else who enjoys their folk noir with a touch of sonic madness should
also have a listen, along with anyone who happens to like their surreal
electronics with a dash of real acoustics and some good old Satanism
thrown in for fun. :)