Steve Kilbey's Remindlessness

SK’s 1990 would-be epic is a glorious mess. Kilbey aimed to produce a timeless classic, and viewed Remindlessness as "…the one that'll make them understand, right...?" Unfortunately, he allowed himself to become dominated by his new multi-track recorder and drum machines. Parts of the album are absolutely fascinating, but the sound is way too crowded and dense to achieve what it wants to. As SK puts it in the liner notes to monsters n mirages:

The atmosphere is oppressive and humid/ sounds crawl all over the place/It seems now that I left very few spaces … The drums pound like a migraine headache / the guitars howl like a tortured beasts / and the strings loom like executioners / It’s ambitions defiantly outweighed its abilities / but it failed gloriously and I was happy

Along those lines, parts of this album are absolutely unlistenable. Even good musical ideas have too many notes and instrumentation that’s annoying or just plain abrasive without adding anything to the song. I’ve got nothing against abrasive – I like Sonic Youth after all! – but here the loud sounds are simply exhausting. Part of that has to do with the static nature of the albums relentless iron drums. For example, take Goliath, a song built around a good drum riff – it might have worked with a live drummer, but with the drum machine pounding away, you just get a headache. All it all it’s not his best work.

I should also mention that my version is married by technical issues: two of the songs are mistakenly a combination of two different songs: "Music From Commercial for 'Eternity Inc' / No Such Thing" and "Soul Sample / Celebration of the Birthday of the Elephant God." This is particularly annoying because it means that whenever I want to listen to "...Elephant God" – my favorite track – I need to do some fast forwarding. Come on man, I want my instant gratification!

Anyways, I’m not going to detail the songs one by one like I did with his previous albums mainly because I don’t want to focus too much on the negative so I’ll just point out some of the standout tunes:

- The Neverness Hoax. This song is really good. A fade in sets the mood and then Kilbey adopts his lounge singer in space persona, singing:

Have I told you about the neverness hoax
A vile trick perpetrated on you innocent folks
Was it in the fall of '93
During the rise of the galaxy
A tiny shift in our trajectory
A little more substance to the unimaginary

-Music From Commercial for 'Eternity Inc' is a nice little pop song – driving and fun.
- Amphibian. If you can get past those drums, and the high-pitched Indian-style noise, there’s actually a pretty good white-boy groove going on.
- Random Pan. An acoustic song with some pretty slide guitar that’s a welcome change of pace from the relentless rawk of the rest of the album.
- Soul Sample – a nice driving rock n’ roll song.
- Celebration of the Birthday of the Elephant God. The epic of the album. This tune takes a while to grow on you, but it’s plodding bassline, Indian marching melodies, and dramatic lyrics really take you for a journey. Here, Kilbey’s at his most insinuating, singing of an unbeliever who has made it to the Elephant God’s throne room:

With the faint whir of leathery wings
Evoking all impossible things
Eternal twilight feels so cold
When the money's all gone your love's been sold
The elephant god sits impassive
His ivory tusks are black and massive
We sway and we curve and we splinter in fits
Drum 'round his throne where he patiently sits

This song effectively handles what SK describes as "...this records major obsession/the reconciliation of the gone mythic world / with the bright new miraculous future / which it seemed I was living in” As if to make that point, even the drums don’t sound as harsh in this one. In fact, the muted bass drums and strumming guitar of the "Servants" chorus contribute a nice respite to the dramatic journey.

Note: I’m planning on writing up my reaction to all of SK’s solo albums included in the Monsters n Mirages box set. Previous post: The Slow Crack. Next up: 1992’s Narcosis + More.