Thick Pigeon - Subway (singles) - Les Disques du Crepuscule - LP (purple)/DD
Belgium's most iconic indie-label Crepuscule may have slowly morphed into a classy, sophisticated stable for an array of swinging pop artists in its later years, but its earliest incarnation couldn't have been more different. The likes of noiseniks Ike Yard, Cabaret Voltaire, Malaria, Glenn Branca and Repetition ensured that its Brussels HQ wasn't bombarded with the local autograph-hunting pop-kids everyday.
Also very much a part of the intriguing NYC scene in the early '80s post-punk scene that captivated their European neighbours, Thick Pigeon were perhaps even bigger oddballs. Featuring future soundtrack composer Carter Burwell and performance artist Miranda Dali (whose then-partner Michael Shamberg ran the US office for Factory Records), the duo used sparse arrangements, fractured beats, kooky lyrics and nursery melodies to deliver a modest but charming catalogue, some of which is sampled on this limited-run vinyl pressing.
First TP single Subway set a high benchmark when issued in 1982. It is by turns musically beautiful and lyrically brutalist, softshoeing its way through five minutes of very real tales of boys 'urinating on the concrete', 'the mice running and hiding among the cola cans' and being unnerved by staring blokes on a platform 'with no train in sight'. Things are even more unsettling on its flip Sudan which reminds me of a blissed out Young Marble Giants if they crossed paths with Flying Lizards, while the follow-up single Dog blends ankle-deep basslines, ACR-style drums and a hammer-horror piano motif.
Thick Pigeon's association with Factory grew stronger in the coming years with the rather more synthesized (though no less commercial) Too Crazy Cowboys album, recorded with New Order's Gillian Gilbert and Steven Morris. A couple of selections from this era have made it onto here including the cut-and-thrust near-instrumental Crime and an unreleased remix of proposed single Jess and Bart. The TCC album is relatively tricky to find these days, although LTM did produce a CD edition some years back. It features an updated version of Sudan, a weirded-out cover of ballad standard Moon River and a gorgeous instrumental that out-New-Orders New Order entitled Nuns and Soldiers. I digress...
Subway (singles) also gathers up a couple of freaky Festive favourites ('Giddy-up, jingle horse, pick up your feet', anyone?) and two Miranda Dali tracks, including the excellent full 12" of Wheels Over Indian Trails, again produced with Gilbert, Morris and Shamberg.
Although just about all of these tracks can be dated by their use of proto-rhythm boxes and clunky synth-programming, Thick Pigeon's twinkly frailties and eerie ghostliness make for captivating listening.
8/10