Idea Fire Company – The New Line

The return of Karla Borecky and Scott Foust's (anti?)institution, and in typically imperial and singular style no less (and of course). I remember Recital saying that Idea Fire Company have spent 30 years either carving their own path or digging their own hole, which is just about the best thing you can say about a band this dedicated to the margins of musical expression. Fittingly, The New Line manages to achieve both things at once. Joined by Graham Lambkin collaborator Timothy Shortell on bass clarinet, this new two track EP/single/album (it's not for me to determine what this is) is blessed with a sonorous, buzzing drone on the A, and on the B is incessantly obtuse and needling. The repetitive piano note that runs the entirety of the flipside is a typical IFCO dogwhistle, at times genuinely (possibly) sounding like a pitched up Ben Kingsley from Sexy Beast saying 'no no no' again and again. This is a brilliant thing. Both sides are underpinned throughout by Shortell's beautiful meandering timbre, adding strange emotion to these thrilling abstract expressions. Not seen this talked about in many other places, which is likely as much a product of IFCO's commitment to outsiderdom as it is anything else. Music this determinedly itself always finds a way in. Credit to Horn of Plenty for the tip.