Theme ‎– No Emotions Catered For LP

Theme ‎– No Emotions Catered For LP

"Theme, featuring the duo of Richard Johnson and Stuart Carter, return with their fifth album, No Emotions Catered For. We neglected the previous albums of these ex-Splintered boys, Valentine (Lost) Forever and Poison Is (Not) The Word, the latter which featured contributions from Jean-Hervé Péron of Faust amongst others. No Emotions Catered For is something different from these former guitar noiseniks, but it does continue their fascination for improvisation, experimental electronics and eastern drones, as found on Theme's earlier albums, On Parallel Shores Removed and Our Angels Dislocated. With drones, electronics, and experimentation No Emotions Catered For is also noteworthy for its varied juxtaposition of voices, which are spoken, chanted and delivered in both English and European accents with the English vocals channelling something of a post-punk spirit. Musically, No Emotions Catered For is restless never settling into one sound for too long, preferring to continually move forward and evolve whilst conversely keeping one eye on the past. It's obvious that Theme are aware of their musical heritage (aside from Splintered, Johnson was involved in the improvised Husk, while Carter was part of the noise rock outfit Heroin as well as producing experimental ambient sounds in his solo project The Fields of Hay) and more so than their earlier releases Theme are keen to incorporate these distinct entities into their varied musical excursions.

Superficially the opening track 'Enough Is Never' features a beguiling interplay of viola, marimba, and eastern drones, overlayen with layers of looped and cut-up vocals. That however is only part of the story. 'Enough Is Never' is furnished with thudding electronic stabs, mesmeric drones, and smashed glass effects. The entire track encompasses droneology, experimental post-punk and post-industrial electronics. But it is the use of voices that are most prevalent here; with the main spoken vocal delivered in distinctive post-punk English tones, but, like most of the vocals on No Emotions Catered For, they are layered, chopped-up and subject to treatments and effects, offering different spins on the inherent messages, that seem to comment on contemporary feelings in futile and paranoid times.

Theme work so many disparate styles into a track that it often starts one way and finishes on another. Unfurling to morose acoustic guitar strum over a loose backdrop of bells the expansive 'Another Context Revealed' is a case in point. As guitars continue in Swans like monotony Lukasz Kozak and Olga Drenda, in a series of passages of accented vocals, occasionally shadowed by a chant like accompaniment, ponder topics such as religion, god, family, love, amongst others. Is it a poison? Is it a cure? It's all a matter of context, we're told. The experimental touches, treated clarinet bleeps and airy hissing drone that appear underneath gradually take centre-stage just as it switches to field recordings of lapping water before settling into a vivid concoction of rippling water and oscillating eastern drones. With the addition of a drum rhythm it begins to take the skeletal shape of a rock band but rather than develop it further it simply fades out - which given the twists and turns the track goes through the ending is quite surprising." - Compulsion Online (Released by Idioblast Recordings)