Look, Know

Look, Know #1, 2013

Quinnell wrinkled his nose. The incident room offered breathable air made up of two parts male sweat to one part bad food. The team Pankhurst had put together were chatting at desks littered with open files, humming computers, and steaming coffee. Adams sat by the window, twirling a biro between the fingers. Quinnell picked up the murder book and weighed it in his hand. He looked at the faces around the room – the indolent, the incompetent and the untrustworthy. He was in good company for he was all three. Donohue walked in, raising the tone slightly.

“I’ve got the guest-list,” he said, handing a sheet of paper to Quinnell. “Looks like a few members of the criminal fraternity have got an interest in art,” he added.

Look, Know #2, 2013

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Look, Know is the A-side of a 1982 7″ single by The Fall, released on Kamera Records. You can listen to it here.

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Wings

Wings, 2013

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My New House

My New House #1, 2013

When the morning came she found herself all covered with dew. A wooden door banged. Footsteps click-clacked towards her. “Jeremy! It’s another bloody squatter,” said a woman. X could smell something sickly – an expensive perfume. The woman was close.

“She’s not a squatter, darling. She’d have to be inside the house to be a squatter. She’s a vagrant,” said a man from a little further away.

“Shoo,” said the woman.

X turned her head in the direction of the voices. The shoes approached – royal blue and gleaming. X reached for the bag, and felt the pain in her right hand, the one that told her what she’d done. Of course the bag was gone. X swore, rolled away from the shoes, got herself into a kneeling position, clambered to her feet and stood up – a giant, bedraggled, black moth.

“Oh God, Jeremy, she’s bleeding on the lawn,” said the woman.

“Come back here, darling. I’m going to call the police,” said the man.

X shrugged. It was no more than she deserved – she’d really f-ed up since the murder. Her eyes dry and gummy with sleep, but the man and the woman looked like the kind she saw in the windows of expensive restaurants in town. It was a nice house. They didn’t deserve this. She watched them retreat behind their mock-thirties front door.

My New House #2, 2013

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My New House is track 8 on The Fall’s 1985 album, This Nation’s Saving Grace. The album is widely regarded (in the music press) as one of the group’s best. It’s certainly more accessible than a lot of the more recent output and recommended as a way into their uniquely ugly/ beautiful music. You can listen to it here.

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This Perfect Day

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Hot Cake

Hot Cake, 2013

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Regular visitors will know I have a deep and abiding love for the group, The Fall. Hot Cake is the third track on their 2010 LP, Your Future Our Clutter (or track five if you are listening on CD). As is often the case, I have no idea what the song is about, but it’s a fun blast of noise and poetry. You can listen to a slightly messier version, Hot Cake part 2 here.

Backdrop

Backdrop, 2013

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This post is dedicated to Nikki.

 

Garden

Garden #1, 2013

After eight o’clock, Sambourne was eerily silent. No teenagers congregated outside the shops. No one shouted. There was virtually no traffic. The sky was massive and the smell of slowness – leaf mould and old stone, mainly – seemed to pervade the whole village. Jenny followed the shadowed path past St. Mary’s to the shrine. The shrine to the Virgin was lit by fluttering nightlights. Flowers had been laid on the ground, and a few around the image of the Virgin. Scrawled messages had been pinned to its wooden surround. Can you help me? Jenny said to the object. She shifted her weight from one pinched, aching foot to the other, and fixed her gaze on Mary’s image. The wind moved the branches of the trees, so that they rattled against each other, but other than that there was no sound. Jenny felt nothing. The image wasn’t even interesting to look at. She was on her own.

Garden #2, 2013

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Garden is the third track on The Fall’s 1983 album, Perverted by Language. It’s nonsensical, but poetry of the highest order, set to urgent, pounding, repetitive music. I strongly urge you to seek it out.

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I Come and Stand At Your Door

I Come and Stand at Your Door #1, 2013

 “You’re wearing odd shoes,” said Detective Sergaent Donohue. Quinnell grumbled. He shuffled across the tiles towards Donohue, a pained expression on his face, his plastic overshoes rustling. “It’s an interesting look,” said Donohue.

“Why did you call me, Franc? Surely you know, I’m the sh_t on the sole of the department’s shoe. My presence here could cause you all kinds of problems,” said Quinnell.

“Oh, I don’t think so, DI Quinnell,” said Donohue. He busied himself with the examination of the corpse. “There’s cash in his trouser pocket, and a what looks like a wallet in his jacket, so I don’t think we’re looking at a robbery,” said Donohue.

The victim was sprawled on the toilet, a lilac shirt wound round his head like a makeshift bandage. But there did not appear to be any blood on it. The victim was naked to the waist, suggesting the shirt was his own. A loosely folded sheet of paper protruded from his left hand. Quinnell placed the man in his forties. His lower jaw reminded Quinnell of that of a comic book hero. It was accentuated by a beard as black as a policeman’s notebook.

“What about Stamp? Did you call him?” said Quinnell. Donohue hummed to himself. “Stamp’s sick,” he said. “Ah, so I was second choice after all,” said Quinnell. Donohue stooped to examine the victim’s arms. “Wounds to both wrists. Most of the blood’s pooled here and here. Odd but it looks like once the action moved into the cubicle, he just sat still for it,” said Donohue. “And no, I wanted you.”

Quinnell crouched down to examine the trail of blood that led out of the cubicle. “Did you get a statement from the CSOs?” he said. DS Donohue nodded and said, “But they weren’t the first on the scene. The two men who raised the alarm would have been more useful, but the CSOs let them go.”

Donohue registered Quinnell’s look of disbelief, then smiled and said, “It gets better. The CSOs compromised the scene: no gloves or overshoes. Their fingerprints are probably everywhere. And one of them moved the body – he thought our man here was alive.”

Quinnell shook his head. “What about the other witnesses – the party guests?” he said.

“One of the CSOs ran into the private view and told the guests what they’d found. The guests lost interest in the art pretty quickly after that,” said Donohue.

“I can’t believe I let you drag me into this – I’ve got a bad foot,” said Quinnell.

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I Come and Stand At Your Door is the twelfth track on The Fall’s 1997 album, Levitate. It’s a predominantly electronic collection and features sound cut-ups and unusual vocal arrangements (particularly on The Quartet of Doc Shanley). I Come and Stand At Your Door is one of the more straightforward tracks – based on a poem by Nazım Hikmet and a traditional tune, previously performed by Pete Seeger, The Misunderstood and The Byrds. The album was released on a label called Artful, which no longer exists, so the physical artifact is pretty difficult to track down. You can hear the whole album here. I thoroughly recommend you listen to track 4, I’m a Mummy!

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Your Future Our Clutter

O.F.Y.C. Showcase (for Deanne), 2012

Your Future Our Clutter is The Fall’s twenty-eighth studio album and was released in 2010.

On the lead track, O.F.Y.C. Showcase, Mark E Smith repeatedly sings the words “our future your clutter” – this being their 28th album I’ve always taken the line to be a joke – the band’s future is dependent on their fans acquiring their album thus creating more clutter in their homes. The words your and our were reversed for the album title, (apparently) at the last moment, to sinister effect. It’s nigh-on impossible to pin down why I’ve let The Fall take up so much shelf space in our home, but their ability to fuse the mundane with the strange and sinister is definitely a part of it. Now, back to my bottle of Alsatian wine…

2 x 4

Untitled photograph, 2011

2×4  is the second track on The Fall’s The Wonderful and Frightening World of The Fall (1984). You can read all about The Fall at The Fall Online.