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thomas leer - 1979 - dark entries - vinyl

New Copy

Genre: Wave / Pop / Rock - Synth

1. Semi Detached Suicide
2. Torment Weekly
3. Urbaine
4. Surprising Variations
5. Crossmaglen
6. Ad Astra
7. Fixed Focus
8. Structures
9. Sleepless Nights
10. Monorail
11. Back of the Mind
12. High Rise
13. Crouch End
14. Never Met an Actress

Thomas Leer is an innovative electronic musician from Port Glasgow, Scotland. He began singing for a local band at age 13, and was writing his own music by 18. By 1977, he had moved to London, where he fronted Pressure, a Clash­-esque punk group with fellow experimental Scottish musician Robert Rental. After hearing Kraftwerk, Leer became interested in synthesizers – not long after, he was exploring the experimental techniques of Eno, Zappa, Beefheart, Faust, and Can. In 1978, Thomas released his first single, “Private Plane”/“International”, on his own Oblique Records that we reissued in 2015.

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1979” is a 14-song collection spread across two pieces of vinyl clocking in at 70 minutes. Leer says, “1979 was a great year for making music. The punk explosion two years earlier, cleansed the palate and opened up minds to new sonic possibilities. It was in this spirit I took to exploring electronics and set up my first little home studio. Bearing in mind this was before such luxuries as Portastudios or affordable multi-tracks, I decided sound quality was less important than experimentation and innovation, so I pressed on with the meager equipment I had. My tabletop studio in Crouch End, North London, consisted of two cassette machines, a copycat tape echo, some FX pedals, Ring Modulator, Guitar, Bass & Wasp Synthesizer.” Songs range from half serene atmospheres, to minimal rhythmic workouts, to tape loops layered behind distorted guitars, to cold layered singing, all with a psychedelic lo-fi attitude.

All songs have been remastered for vinyl by George Horn at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley. The jacket features an industrial photo of a man standing on an overpass with a passing truck taken by Thomas’ brother Andy Wishart in 1980. Each copy includes a two­-sided black and white postcard with liner notes by Thomas. 38 years later this is fresh UK D.I.Y. post­-punk, compelling pop with a dark heart, vacillating between the pretty disturbing and the disturbingly pretty.