EP Review
The Penrose Web
It’s….The Penrose Web EP
A Fool’s Paradise / Gare du Nord Records
DL / 7″ vinyl
out now
Allan Crockford of The Prisoners and The Galileo 7 and Ian Button from Death In Vegas and Papernut Cambridge join forces on fab new project. The ‘Horror Garage’ songs appeal to Ged Babey…
This is a fantastic record – a genuine cult classic from The Medway Garage Punk/Psych underground made by a couple of veteran scene heroes.
Their first EP It’s….The Penrose Web is a 4-song mix of sinister horror garage (“Hexapod Scene”, “I Dreamt I Woke Up Dead”), phased mod energy (“Leap of Faith”) and no-frills power-pop (“Geraldine”) – and it’s the first 7″ record pressed on a new bioplastic compound called Evovinyl.
Hexapod Scene instantly hits the spot. Beautifully tuneful yet discordant, stinging guitar reminding me of Fast Product band the Scars and distorted nasal vocals a bit like Swell Maps – all in that Medway Garage style that evokes a late 60’s TV theme tune.
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I Dreamt I Woke Up Dead is fantastic too, a kind of Hammer Horror meets Hanna Barbera variation on the theme of Kafka’s Metamorphosis played by a Seeds tribute band. The lyrics are genuinely laugh-out-loud funny and the music is great slices of guitar and stuttering Farfisa organ.
Leap of Faith is cool too but Geraldine is a sheer pop-power gem of a love story where cupid uses laughing gas instead of a bow and arrow… kinda.
The songs all have a familiarity yet freshness and sound like their construction and execution is just so much fun it’s an irresistible EP to my mind.
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As you’d expect, Crockford’s Medway credentials and Button’s SE London via Kent Coast retro pop chops merge geo-musically somewhere halfway along the M20. They both bring items from their own musical wardrobes to this: their own takes on sunshine pop, psych, garage, (northern) soul and indie combine in a set of dual-vocal led songs with layered harmonies and crisp punchy production.
The Penrose Web is:
Allan Crockford – vocals, bass, guitar, keyboards
Ian Button – vocals, drums, guitar, keyboards
With huge thanks to:
Viv Bonsels – backing vocals, percussion
Janey Donnachie – backing vocals
Buy from The Penrose Web EP from Bandcamp
……….
The Galileo 7 – And as a bonus feature for no extra charge here is The Galileo 7, the title track from the latest album released March 2024 featuring Mole on lead vocals (and swearing). Buy from their website or Damaged Goods and all good record shops worldwide.
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Papernut Cambridge (& friends) Bandcamp will be a source of delight to fans of homegrown eccentricity, psych, Sunshine pop and pastoral oddities if you haven’t already discovered it.
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All words Ged Babey with PR content in italics.
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