2023 Repress
First compiled back in 2012, EM again revisit this joyful collection of Brenda Ray's Naffi/Naffi Sandwich output from the late 70s/early 80s. It's a perfect distillation of the post-punk era, decentralised both musically and geographically, culturally open and kind-spirited and fitted with its own alterno-pop vision. The homemade dub experimentations and spacy melodicism stress some kinship with fellow Northerners Windows and Pink Industry, and while Ray's anti-London stance may not permit it, the Flying Lizards/David Cunningham/General Strike comparisons are entirely valid. Primitive, DIY, autodidactic - it's everything the best pop has always been, really, moving instinctively and unconventionally, but catching a hook at each turn. Sounded fresh in '79, and then again in 2012. 2023 is much the same and revealing of Brenda Ray's enduring unique qualities.
