Re-Mit… Task force
Review: The Fall – Re-Mit
Published on May 22nd, 2013 | Jonny Abrams
The Fall go dubstep! No, of course not; barring the odd squelchy synth pad, swathes of which coat instrumental opener “No Respects (Intro)”, Re-Mit is very much a Fall album (their thirtieth, in fact). This may leave it low on surprises, but anyone even remotely familiar with the works of Mark E. Smith and his revolving cast of bandmates will know that it’s certainly not dull.
It may not be This Nation’s Saving Grace but Re-Mit is a perfectly serviceable Fall record, and for that it is worthwhile. “Sir William Wray” ushers in the familiar ranty, crashing chaos and the ensuing “Kinder of Spine” finds Smith cheerfully greeting a spider and lamenting “One time I hurt my paw” over a vampish sort of rhythm. As ever, what you hear may not be what he’s actually saying, but then that’s half the fun.
“Pizza is one of these people” we make out on our first exposure to “Noise”, realising upon further listening that he’s probably saying ‘Peter’ rather than ‘pizza’, and wondering how on Earth we failed to spot that. What is beyond interpretation is that “Noise” is a strange mess of techno gurgles and whirring cacophony, not so much paving the way for the high-pitched lead guitar and rumbling rhythm section of “Hittite Man” as running into the room and yelling “BOMB!”
That analogy isn’t the most reassuring segue into “Jetplane”, but there’s a pleasing sense of ‘business as usual’ about its constituent airport-based gripes. “The Italians certainly like their Sundays / And to make matters worse, some sort of rock group was holding up things also” Smith informs us, proceeding to grumble something about someone “carrying more Euros into Heathrow” before making way for snarly little interlude “Pre-Mdma”.
There appears to be a mention of James Murphy on the time-honoured, Fall-patented scuzz-stomp-loony-march of “Irish”, before the curtain-closing “Jam Song” reminds us of what an inspiration The Fall have been over the years by sounding like the kind of racket conjured by early Pavement, specifically “Jackals, False Grails: The Lonesome Era” from their classic 1992 LP Slanted and Enchanted.
Like we said, Re-Mit may not be The Fall’s best album, but it’s a Fall album and that’s good enough for us. Still as barmy as a bat excrement splattered box full of badgers after all these years, then.
Rocksucker says: Three and a Half Quails out of Five!
Re-Mit is out now on Cherry Red Records.
You can buy Re-Mit on iTunes and on Amazon.
For more information, please visit The Fall’s official website.
About the Author
Jonny Abrams Editor of Rocksucker and the website's founder, Jonny is passionate about the music he listens to, both good and bad, as well as interviewing his favourite musicians.
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