Seance

Of all The Church’s eighties albums, Seance is the one most mired in its time – it’s hard to escape those gated drums and the swamp of reverb here. But The Church turn it to their advantage; strangely, their songs sit perfectly within this alien environment, and if anything, its mechanical charge makes their music even more psychedelic. And in amongst the moodiness (best captured by lead singer/songwriter Steve Kilbey’s two masterpieces here, “Now I Wonder Why” and “Disappear”) are some great, exhilarating rock songs – see the glam-shock of “Electric Lash” and the eternally recurring riff of “One Day”.

With Seance, the Church began an initial move beyond their core rock band sound, producing themselves for the first time and adding some unexpected touches from the get-go, as with Richard Ploog’s bongos on the understated opening track “Fly.” Steve Kilbey as ever remained the core creative force on the album, writing everything beyond a band cowrite on “Travel By Thought,” and if the album art might have suggested a connection to goth rock’s rise, their own sense of ringing guitar drama remains paramount, as a song like “Electric Lash” shows.