Song, by Toad

Erm, prepare yourselves a bit here chaps, because this lot are a little odd.   The Pendulums are a truly mental bunch from the Highlands of Scotland (it appears from their bio – I’m not entirely sure though, I must be honest).

The music that they play takes psych-folk and runs with it all the way off to the lunatic fringe.  They’re early Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci in many ways, although with big splashes of a sort of children’s program version of Fairport Convention as well as a healthy portion of wild circus craziness.  Imagine early Gorky’s but folkier and even more bonkers – yes, more bonkers -  and you may be about there.  And somehow, although this album is wildly inconsistent, there are some moments of pure inspiration on it that mean I feel somehow compelled to write about it.

You’ve heard Brand New Song before, it’s one that captured my imagination months ago.  I say captured, but perhaps drugged, abducted and chained up in the basement would be more accurate.  Following that, Mercat is peculiar, and Greenhat is an ultra-high pitched cod-operatic performance sung over a peculiarly sombre circus boom-boom beat.  It gets a little more sensible at this point, although no less odd, somehow.  Gie’s a Shot is a pretty straightforwarly traditional reel.  Village o’ Kirkmichael is also traditional folk, but somehow much more than that.  Wicked Witch is dark, but inspired.  And so it goes, from one crazy song to the next.

Basically, this album is so playful and veers so freely in and out of sheer lunacy that it is impossible to tell when, if ever, they’re being serious.  There are some inspired musical moments here and some brilliant tunes, and whether they’re being entirely straight-faced or completely taking the piss just doesn’t seem to matter.  Embrace the madness!

The Pendulums – Brand New Song
The Pendulums – Greenhat
The Pendulums – Wicked Witch

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