Autumnfair

"One Of The Many Offshoots Of Savage Republic Autumnfair Based Their Sound In The Early-'80s Post-Punk Output Of The Factory And 4AD Labels. Savage Republic Bassist/guitarist/vocalist Thom Fuhrmann Started The Band In 1986 With Val Haller A Bassist/vocalist Who Had Previously Played With Jayne County The Flying Lizards And Lords Of The New Church. The Remainder Of The Band Included At Various Points Biff Sanders A SR Engineer Scott Feemster Caroline Topalian Jack Housen And Savage Republic's Greg Grunke. All Told They Went Through Three Lineups. Though The Group Quit Operating In 1989 None Of Their Material Was Issued Until 1991 When Independent Project Records The Label Run By SR's Bruce Licher Issued The 10" EP Glaciers And Gods In 1991. 11 Years Later The Mobilization Label Yet Another SR-Related Imprint Released Autumnfair 1986-1989 A CD Compilation That Paired A Remastered Version Of The 1991 EP With Previously Unissued Material". "Thom Fuhrmann Has Described The Work On This CD As Being From His '4AD Period' And That's Not A Half-Bad Way To Look At The Results Which Draw Together Both The Single Tracks And A Variety Of Unreleased Material For A Complete If Unannotated Overview. He And Partner Val Haller Along With A Rotating Crew Of Backing Players Created A Generally Dark And Oftentimes Dramatically Powerful Series Of Tracks That Do Have A Bit Of This Mortal Coil-Styled Impact To Them Spiked More Than Once With Joy Division's Sense Of Power As Filtered Through Martin Hannett's Production. More Rock And Less Texture Though - The Opening Cut Alone Is Practically An Epic With Pounding Drums Soaring Wordless Backing Vocals And A Piano Part Snaking Through The Mix. There Are Certainly Dollops Of Savage Republic-Styled Aggressiveness On Autumnfair 1986-1989 But Generally Speaking There's Nothing In The Way Of Industrial/metallic Rhythms Read My Lips Being A Definite Exception Or Roared Shouted Vocals - Guitar First And Foremost Leads The Way. But Haller's Growling Bass Often Offsets His Calm Reflective Singing Reminiscent Of Simon Huw Jones' Quieter Moments With And Also The Trees As On The Pounding She Only Smiles While Fuhrmann's At Once Cold And Enveloping Guitar Work Is Often Pure Post-Punk Ecstasy. Add In Touches Such As The Reverbed Choir Sample Starting The Swirling Very Cocteau Twins/Xymox-Tinged Instrumental Novy Mir And It's Little Wonder One Could Imagine This Packaged In Artwork By Vaughan Oliver Or Chris Begg. Other Strong Numbers Include Cascade With A Conclusion Worthy Of Unknown Pleasures Down To The Echo On The Drum Machines And The Rumbling Doom-Laden Punch Of Glaciers And Gods Which Also Has The Best Song Title Of The Bunch Hands Down". read less