The Horrors - Primary Colours

You may be familiar with Chris Cunningham if you’re an avid fan of 90s haunting music videos such as Aphex Twin’s “Come To Daddy” and “Windowlicker”, Portishead’s “Only You” and Madonna’s “Frozen”. And by mentioning Portishead you remember Geoff Barrow, right? Beth Gibbons has not let him see the sunshine yet so that adds up to our emphasize. Now picture Cunningham and Barrow joining hands with Aussie novelist and musician Craig Silvey (no extra info on this one) to produce one album. That album has turned out to be Primary Colours by Brit’s shoegazers The Horrors. This is their 2nd proper work after 2007’s Strange House. They were also enlisted in this year’s Mercury Prize nominees but were probably too dismal and horrifying to claim that trophy.

So it was when I saw the album as 2009’s pick of the year on A Future In Noise (a precious indie blog by musician/blogger Marilyn Roxie) that I found myself getting the album and give it a comprehensive listen. These gruff psych-rockers will not probably give you the shivers the Xiu Xiu way but their sound is massively self-broadening, 2 A.M Lost Highway nightmarish and beautiful. It does not entrap itself by plain ghostly melodies, it’s an 80s brit-rock reminder at core but each single song is intensely picturesque and I can name a thriller on each single track. The Horrors are led by Faris Badwan and his voice can be as violent as Johnny Rotten, as claustrophobic as Ian Curtis, as screeching as Black Francis and consequently Primary Colours sounds like a soundtrack to a downtown drunkard disco-dancing English movie that plays Jesus and the Mary Chain, Joy Division and sometimes The Smiths and Pixies in background with shimmering neon red and blue lights.

The post-punk and neo-psychedelia nature of Primary Colours unleashes a lousy but sprawling sound that makes the record apt for playing at various dismal situations. Yes it could be a year end favorite and it’s a huge grower. XL Recordings must be proud. I think the band has toured with Nine Inch Nails too as I recall. Also they're going to collaborate with Damon Albarn on his next Gorillaz project, dunno how their images can fit in one disk but let's just be patient.

[mp3] The Horrors "Three Decades"

and here's the full streaming album which came as a surprise to me, too as I stumbled upon their official webplace: