Strictly Horizontal

It’s a bit of a shame when the best thing your label has going for it is its in-house sleeve designer. But that’s about where the British indie 4AD, now a quarter century old, finds itself these days.

During its mid-1980s to early 1990s peak, 4AD was the More Artsy Than Thou home of such black-fingernail-polish-crowd faves as Cocteau Twins, Dead Can Dance, and Bauhaus. Founder Ivo Watts-Russell was even able to unearth exceptional American acts like the Pixies and Throwing Muses, and envelope them in icy British cool. Vaughn Oliver’s stark, often medieval-looking sleeves were the label’s calling card, and hardcore fans would pick up anything with the 4AD stamp. That a lot of it was import-only just added to the mystique.

Now, though, the most notable act on 4AD is a neo-folkie from Bloomington, Indiana who records under the name The Mountain Goats. Critically acclaimed, yes, but hardly enough to anchor an image. Otherwise, it’s keeping the past alive with re-issues and projects like The Hope Blister.

And even the Hope Blister is a continuation of sorts—a “sequel” to This Mortal Coil, the 4AD “house band” that issued three albums during the label’s glory days. The apotheosis of everything 4AD was about, TMC allowed Watts-Russell to marshal his stable of artists to collaborate on covers of some of his (and theirs, presumably) favorite songs from hip-obscure predecessors like Tim Buckley and Big Star.

There’s one crucial difference between the two acts. While led by Watts-Russell and engineer John Fryer, TMC was a fluid collective that might feature, say, members of Cocteau Twins, Wolfgang Press, and the Associates collaborating on any given track. Hope Blister, on the other hand, had a fixed line-up of vocalist Louise Rutowski, a bass player, and a string section.

All of this history is necessary to understand where Underarms / Sideways is coming from. The first Hope Blister album, 1998’s ...Smile’s OK had all of the dour cover versions and none of the intriguing collaborations and interesting electronics of TMC’s work. Thus, it now can be had on any second-hand web site for 69 cents. Underarms was issued via internet only the same year, and now gets its first proper release. An attempt by Watts-Russell to take some of the ...Smile’s OK material and make it sound like This Mortal Coil, it only partially succeeds. Underarms basically sounds like a collection of the short instrumental passages that connected songs on TMC’s albums. Only now they’re devoid of drum machines and stretched out to six or seven minutes. Watts-Russell is able to concoct a darkly pretty atmosphere; the problem is he can’t go any further with the concept. “Sweet Medicine” opens with a deep, bagpipe-like drone… and keeps going. The next five tracks follow suit, substituting different timbres in a slo-mo sonic gaze. “Iota” adds some disorienting vocal snippets, briefly breaking the spell. You have to wait 40 minutes for “Happiness Strings”, and they are gorgeous, swelling and surging like the longest, saddest kiss you can imagine.

On Sideways, ambient artist Markus Guenter has a go at the same material. At first, his “reinterpretation” sounds nearly identical to the source. Listen closely, and you’ll hear that Guenter has smoothed everything out, replacing organic sounds with more electronic ones and adding reverb and gating effects. For example, that bagpipe-like drone is now a generator-like drone.

As a package, Underarms / Sideways is the perfect soundtrack for lying on the couch, feeling serious and wide-eyed. Very 4AD.