PH7

Coming after the minimalist but enthrallingly experimental The Future Now, pH7 is a return to more familiar song-based territory. Mainstream compromises? Hardly. This is a disconcertingly eclectic set of recordings, even by Hammill's standards, and yields it's fair share of sonic delights. We find Hammill dabbling in a vast range of styles, from the simple acoustic song to the (pseudo-)full band epic. His sense of humour is more overt than ever, too. "My Favourite", like "Pushing Thirty" before it, is a rather ironic note to open on in view of what is to follow. It's a sickly-sweet ballad and (one hopes) tongue-in-cheek; perhaps this doesn't bear well under repeated listenings, but it's not really a misfire. "Careering" begins with a quirky wah-wah guitar riff and becomes increasingly chaotic, with inspired usage of backing vocals ("We're all normal...") and culminating in some demented soloing where Hammill and David Jackson take turns in making as much noise as possible. The following track, "Porton Down" manages to take the intensity up yet another notch. Hammill growls and shrieks over a looped synth bassline punctuated by staccato guitar bursts, accompanied once again by David Jackson and Graham Smith abusing their respective saxes and violin. The result has barely a semblance of melody and is all the more nightmarish for it. Once again making extensive usage of synthesisers and electronic effects, pH7 is more densely orchestrated than its predecessor and integrates these more tightly into the songs, at times recalling arrangements from In Camera. "Mirror Images" and "The Old School Tie" are good examples of this. "Handicap and Equality" concerns more or less what the title suggests, in the form of a solemn ballad. The whole thing could quite easily fall flat but its folk-like qualities sustain it; Hammill wisely avoids overly ponderous lyrics and concentrates on a well-calculated delivery. The anti-elegy "Not For Keith" is more effective still, with a sparse piano arrangement carrying the song's raw but understated emotion. "Imperial Walls" is probably the most experimental track here, again recalling moments from The Future Now. The guitar and synth lines ebb and flow over a constant militant drum beat, forming a minimalistic but evocative backdrop. The vocal melodies are quite otherworldly - especially the breathless recicitation near the beginning and the concluding choral overdubs. The final two tracks - "Mr. X (Gets Tense)" and "Faculty X" - segue together, essentially acting as one huge and utterly brilliant apocalyptic epic. Pure, indulgent noise is used excessively here both to seperate sections and in an orchestral role. "Mr. X" is built around an angular piano theme, accompanied by a heaving bassline and charmingly inept drumming, whilst vast washes of sound swirl around in the mix - guitar feedback, electric violin lines, a siren-like synth, all creating an utterly unique and gloriously obscene tapestry of noise. At centre stage Hammill gives one of his best vocal performances ever, bellowing through the chaos around him: "Is this the way the world ends?" The backing vocals are no less wonderful, with their demonic intonations of "under fire! Under ice!" "Faculty X" is more coherently orchestrated, and significantly less chaotic - but equally playful, melodically intricate and compellingly unique. Tracks like these two really manage to confirm Hammill's erratic brilliance as a songwriter; they're unlike anything he ever wrote for Van Der Graaf but stand up as equally strong on their own merits. pH7, his last album of the seventies, manages to be both a summation of his past solo works and a step forward.