Spherical Objects - Past and Parcel
Spherical Objects were one of a small, insular collective of experimental post-punk bands that formed in Manchester during the late 70s, with Past and Parcel being the debut release.
Recorded in 1978, the album exhibits the sound of a band that has taken the DIY punk foundations, and shaken them to leave the structure slanted and off-balance. The use of what I can only assume to be toy instruments is prevalent, with every track built upon a hook ever-so-slightly skewed and off-kilter.
Frontman Steve Solomar has a vocal style that's distinct in its idiosyncratic tone. With any other band and on any other album, it would probably sound atrocious, but his voice compliments the strange sound of Spherical Objects perfectly. The lyrics emanate from the soul of a man frustrated by his life of isolation and longing, and the music almost appears to be the sonic expression of a mind unhinged.
I can't really identify bands with a similar sound, possibly Deep Freeze Mice but that's stretching it. They remind me of bands like the Subway Sect and Television Perrsonalities, but that's because of the whimsical, lo-fi production aesthetic more than anything else.
Despite its experimental nature, Past & Parcel is an album that exudes warmth and a strange feeling of comfort, it has a personal quality to it that allows the listener to identify with themes that grip us all at some point.