In what is sadly (quite possibly) going to be the last ever outing for the marvelous DIY imprint Audio Antihero the home in the past to such delightful acts as Nosferatu D2 and Cloud, they are putting out Benjamin Shaw’s long player ‘Goodbye, Cagoule World’. Shaw intricately draws vivid pictures of emotional scars and escapism with nothing more than subtle weighted vocal tones and sepia tinged, cracked lo-fi instrumentation it’s a triumphant way for the lads at AA to go out. Benjamin has kindly sent us a Track by Track guide to this new record. Godspeed Audio Antihero and all those whom sailed in you!
No One:
We start with a hella mud. I wanted to start this album, or EP, or whatever, in the slowest possible way. It’s something I’d been thinking about for a while. My records are never nice to listen to, I try, honestly I do, but I’m just not very good at it. So I wanted something that really introduced the listener to the record, a mission statement and warning of what’s ahead – “you’re not gonna like this, it’s a bloody mess” and that way maybe just get rid of those that sniff at records that sounds like shit. The later half of the album is probably the nicest I’ve ever sounded, but you don’t want those people to know that, do you?
Always With the Drama:
Again, messy as hell. This originally started life as a lovely upbeat tune that I made up nearly ten years ago in Melbourne, Australia. (All songs written in Melbourne sound lovely and upbeat, you’re easily able to pick them out in my back catalogue). But obviously I updated it for London. There was another song that was meant to go here as Song 2, which would’ve probably made the album feel more alive and gung-ho, but gung-ho is so Pre-Coalition. It just wouldn’t have been right.
Break the Kettles and Sink the Boats:
As with the last song, I really wanted these two to sound like some dumb kid had been flat-handedly prodding at a drum machine. I think I pulled it off. There is a continuous theme in this album of just giving up, fucking it all off and running away, and I think this is the first obvious declaration of that. I was hoping this would be the big lead single, making people laugh and dance, but then reality happened.
Something about a Park:
The general gist of this record is thus:
-Sorry everything is so rubbish
-I don’t know, it’s probably people’s fault
-Fuck ’em
-Kill ’em
-Kill ’em again, this time with feeling
-Actually, it’s probably my fault
-No it isn’t
This is the first part of the angry bit.
Magneto Was Right:
As the title suggests, this is about all those people who run you down, for whatever stupid reason, and you just want to grab their stupid faces and grind them into the bathroom enamel. The realisation that Magneto was right all along, and hopefully he will let you join his Mutant Brotherhood.
You & Me:
This is the pop song of the album, you have to have one, you’d be stupid not to. Obviously, it doesn’t have a chorus or anything substantial, but it does have some really hopeless and depressing lyrics. That’s what the kids dig these days, right? It’s all about the kids.
Goodbye, Kagoul World:
I changed the spelling of the title track for this to try and seem obtuse and aloof. Like Sonic Youth. Really it just caused confusion. This is the final song of the Audio Antihero years. There may well be more Audio Antihero years in the future, but this feels like the closing of a chapter. Certainly the closing of the Miserable Songs About London chapter. I don’t know what comes next, if anything comes at all, but it’s been swell. Cheers.
