Steven Wilson has curated a new boxset, selecting 58 tracks from his formative years. Steven Wilson Presents: Intrigue - Progressive Sounds In UK Alternative Music 1979–89:
This is my personally-curated attempt to redress the balance, and to perhaps introduce any 1980s-sceptics out there to the idea that conceptual thinking and ambition didn’t suddenly evaporate after 1977. Ambitious, weird and thrilling music was all around you in the 1980s - if you looked in the right places.
Mexican post-punk quartet Mercvrial have fully embraced the '80s synths/guitar sound that was all the rage in the UK back then. Add a swinging bass and travel back in time cranking their new album Brief Algorithms, a tasty amalgam of borderline mainstream rock mixed with urgent vocals, telling tales about the struggle to find a significant other, the failed promise of social media as a vessel for progress (Be That Someone), while dancing the night way (Dance In The Dark).
The shared vocals of Ricardo and David give them and edge over the competition, with I'll Get You Home On Time, Hail Of Arrows and a dark reinterpretation of Ultravox's Hiroshima Mon Amour as the cream of the crop. Also: bonus points for pulling off a truly great cover of Pink Floyd's Matilda Mother. They had the guts to add a bit of extra sauce of their own on that one. Having Terry Bickers (House of Love, Levitation) guesting on guitar on five of the tracks pretty much seals the deal: it is a sign of approval from a man who was at the forefront of pushing the sound of the guitar in the '80s. Mercvrial have the melodies and the chops to break out of the barriers from the retro-niche. Wearing your influences on your sleeve is actually a badge of honour when done right.
