Cherry Red Records (label)
22 June 2015 (released)
30 June 2015
Although John Robb reformed The Membranes several years ago, this is the first new album from the band since then. They were first put together in Blackpool in 1977. As punk ripped apart the music scene in the UK, the band worked on the gothic - guitar heavy - sound that would influence the likes of Mercury Rev and My Bloody Valentine. Pitched at the opposite end of the musical spectrum to New Romantics, The Membranes often appeared favourably in the 'cooler' music press.
Interesting then that 30 years later the band still sounds as energised and in some ways enraged. Perhaps they spent a couple of Sundays listening to the Top 40 to get them revved up. 1983's hit-makers suddenly seem a lot less generic. Whatever the motivation, Dark Matter/Dark Energy is a thrusting - at times frightening - display of Robb's talents.
Not for the faint hearted, the album is apparently about life and death and the universe. It was inspired by a chance meeting between Robb and the head of the Higgs Boson project. That's led to a tour de force of extraordinary soundscapes, like the lengthy Money Is Dust or the heavy guitar crashes of the even-longer In The Graveyard. Often better when the loud is sharply contrasted with quiet, Dark Matter/Dark Energy shows Robb still has plenty to offer.
