The Lines - Flood Bank

The Lines are now open

After the recent Memory Lapse collection of this massively-overlooked band’s glorious singles and EPs from between 1978-81 comes their two albums, which saw them discard conventional song structures to let their more experimental, groove-influenced leanings come to the fore. Therapy was released in October 1981 (trailered by, incredibly, the group’s first ever interview – in Zigzag, with this writer, now reproduced in the booklet), while Ultramarine was recorded the following year and released in March 1983. Both albums more than hold their own against any of the post-punk outfits that enjoyed various levels of success at the time. The Lines would have been happy just to get noticed but, when even that didn’t happen, they sadly called it a day.

The music here has hardly dated. First album tracks such as the dub-tribal Come Home, ESG-bassed Stripe and multi-layered Airlift add a highly-individual slant by planting haunted vocals over spiked funk and krautrock-flavoured rhythms while stretching the new technology. The darker Ultramarine ventures further into the unknown, tracks like The Gate and The Landing building slow, brooding atmospheres with Rico Conning’s trombone and scrambled electronics, while Disenchanted predates minimal techno with its electronic squalls and tense groove. Monstrously ahead of their time.

Acute | 011

Reviewed by Kris Needs
<< Back to Issue 358