The Wake – Harmony & Singles

Please note that the times listed on the back of the cd are uniformly incorrect. Correct times are listed above

I can't say that this album is one to which I listen particulary often anymore, but parts of it are so compelling that until this CD was finally issued, it was for years one of maybe 5 or so records that I most fervently hoped would be rereleased in digital form. Because of the band's relative obscurity it seemed the wish would unlikely be fulfilled, until LTM entered its 2nd phase, performing what can only be called a public service by making many forgotten, and some unknown, gems available again. Now, if I had to clear out my collection, keeping just a handful of prized items, this would be one of the classics I would not let go.

Later albums exhibit by turns more warmth and exhuberance; the appeal here is pathos for a hurting soul. The cold, sparse strains could be a soundtrack to loneliness. Comparisons to labelmates Joy Division are accurate to the extent one considers mood and production values, although even here the music tends more to 'indie' than 'post-punk'. For my taste, however, this album best captures the quintessence of a Factory sound, even though in reality Factory releases were quite diverse. At the time, however, if you were to synthesize common impressions of the label's style, you'd quite possibly arrive somewhere very close to The Wake's first LP. Another touchstone from that era would be John Foxx's Metamatic album, which, although produced in a more striking manner (whereas this one is more subdued) shares that certain hollow, emotive sound of analog synths that is itself a relative rarity in the catalog of modern music, coming as it did before the wholesale adoption of similar elements by more recent styles of dance music. That's not to say that the Wake is an electronic band here, just that the use of electronics, along with the reverb baths over the other instruments, is central to the flavor of this record.

The second album is much warmer, and certainly more beautiful as a production, but this release captures perfectly, for me, the tenor of the so-called cold wave period with a beauty all its own.