How often do you hear people complaining that music's stagnating, that there's nothing original being made anymore. After all, there's only so many notes and chords, aren't there? Granted, such people are normally dullards who are stuck in the '60s and '70s, but one thing is for sure, those people haven't heard anything by Main.
Main evolved from indie-shoegazer types Loop, half of the band left to form krautrock influenced noisy types The Hair and Skin Trading Co, the other two formed this bunch. What a surprise this must have been to anyone who followed them, hoping they were going to carry on in the same vein. You see, Main fixed the problem of "there only being so many chords", by using them sparingly.
The opening track, "Cypher", starts off with a hollow metallic echoing, before a burst of high-pitched guitar noise takes over. This noise is then looped round for the remainder of the track, and it is one chord, repeatedly blaring for about five minutes. A tinny synth drum backs the noise, with some gorgeous deep and dubby bass. What vocals there are, are very quiet, and completely unintelligible. From that description, they probably don't sound very appealing, but you'd be wrong to think that. The way they use repetition, to slightly change certain layers of their sound, to add new elements, to manipulate your senses, is simply stunning. The closing track of side 1, "Blown", is an example of Main at their very best. A low humming electronic noise repeats, with what reminds me of a bakelite telephone ring (slowed down, and played through an echo chamber) played over the top. A portentous sounding synth-drum kicks in, as though announcing the arrival of action, very shortly. What arrives, is two swathes of fuzzy electric guitar loops, complementing each other perfectly, creating a sound of heavenly beauty. If I die, and travel through that tunnel, towards the light, I would be disappointed if "Blown" was not being played at that very moment.
The second side, is an altogether different affair. Apart from it starting very similarly. You see, it kicks in with the guitar loops, the dubby bass, the same ethereal vocals, then
silence. There's rainfall, which continues for the remainder of the album. Guitars simply make occasional scratchy atmospherics over the top. One bass note chimes repeatedly. It's musique concrete, as though played by Bauhaus tuning up, and to me, it sounds absolutely peaceful and perfect.
Genuine originals, but probably not for everyone, but then what do
they know?
