Essendon Airport were a standout from Chapter's stupendous early 80 revival post-punk comp Can't Stop It earlier in the year. That track, How Low Can You Go, joins another 12 mesmerising minimalist guitar/organ/drum machine jams on Sonic Investigations of the Trivial.
The album is a document of a band waaay ahead of it's time, named after the sought after 7" EP the duo released in 1979 on Innocent Records. And innocent it was too, of the convenience of sampling and sequencing, and easily laying claim to prior occupation of half Australia's avant-garde landscape since. Building from deceptively simple one and two bar loops, all played live, we quickly lose the one as David Chesworth (keyboards, electronics) and Robert Goodge (guitar) weave through the rhythms at will.
We eggheadedly opine that the key ethos of electronica is that the music is shaped by corrupt implementations of innocent technologies. Yet with Essendon Airport we can actually see it happen, the simple addition of a homemade drum-machine, that today you could implant in a single eyelash follicle, transforms the band from noodlers to landscape painters.
But don't think it's all so high-brow; in fact the melodies gush with the simplicity of all great songs. Later, the jackets come off as singer Anne Cessna joins, but even her precious teenage bedroom chants are fashioned into the infectious pop hooks that temper Essendon Airport's almost wilful quirkiness. Think Mr Clean, who last year trod similar paths using his legendary Small Piano of dictation machines, the cheap 20 year old recordings of Essendon Airport are wrapped in that same warm sonic fuzz.
Chapter's product is hard to get. I have rarely seen any of the four Chapter releases I love in any shop, and the staff are always sceptical of your chances if it's not on the racks. It's a pity, because Sonic Investigations perfectly inks the line from the disaffected leather jackets of late 70s Melbourne to the poised electronics of labelmates Jeremy Dower and Letraset. You really need all three of these if your loved ones are not going to get bored and leave you.
Jonothan Sykes |
