I've played this album on my mp3 player a few times when out and about lately and, no matter what mood I'm in or how sunny it is, within a few minutes I'm dragged down into the bleakest pit of despair I've ever known. I've even worked out the exact moment it happens - in the opener Loss, after the lines "shake off the dust / shake off the old skin / wash me clean", there's a scream that causes any positive thoughts in my head to disappear for the next 40 minutes. It's quite something. Within the length of my commute I can have gone from having had a great day to hating absolutely everything. This album and public transport would be a dangerous combination.
But it's important to say that I mean all of that in the best possible way. I can't think of any situation where I'd want an album to bring me down so far and crush my high spirits so thoroughly, but Dead Lake will do it. It's a great album in many ways, but it's control over my mood is truly incredible. I like to think of them as a bleak hardcore band, but you could equally see them as a very sparse, bass-y metal band. The best description I can think of is that it's like playing two Shellac records at once.
The story of how I got into Silent Front goes back 12 years (but with some long gaps in the middle). When I was 17 and living in Winchester, my friends and I had gone to a gig in The Railway Inn. Our friends' band Samo were playing alongside another band from Winchester called Caretaker. We had a good time and I bought Caretaker's EP at the end of the night. The band now jokingly refer to those early days as the "indie days" and sound very little like they did back then, but that cd has remained on heavy rotation over all the years that have passed. Eight years later when I met my friend Sarah and told her I was from Winchester, she asked me if I'd ever heard of Caretaker and I discovered that a) I wasn't the only one still loving their EP and b) they were still together, if a little heavier in sound than before. It turned out that she was friends with them - a strange coincidence, but a nice one nonetheless. A short while later, they were playing in the Old Blue Last with some bands we hadn't heard of, and we went along to watch them all. It was very odd seeing this band for the second time, nine years after the first (needless to say, they didn't play any of their "indie" songs, but it was still great). The band after them were Silent Front (finally getting to the point) who blew us away as well. We both became fans (Sarah much more keenly - she sees them as often as she can) and I often wonder if I'd have ever heard them had it not been for that evening watching Caretaker in the Railway.
This (long) story has a nice future as well as past: that night I remembered thinking that my friend Hugh would probably be into Silent Front too and, having just forgotten his birthday, I bought a copy of Dead Lake for him (I only finally bought a copy for myself this January). He thought it was great and his band ended up playing with Silent Front on the London leg of the tour they were doing with Castles the other summer. I always enjoy that feeling when a friend gets into a band because you recommended them, and that was a particularly nice one.
Strangely, in the time I've been writing this post, the sky has clouded over and it's begun raining on my part of London. I can't help but think playing this record somehow had an effect...
Format: 12", gatefold sleeve
Tracks: 8
Cost: £8 new
Bought: Banquet Records
When: 04/01/13
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: CD
