Seventeen Seconds (1980)
Impressed by their experiences opening for Siouxsie & The Banshees, Smith embraced the gothic for album quantity two, a lot to the ire of the extra standard guitar-band exponent Dempsey, who left to affix The Associates.
Having recruited Simon Gallup and keyboardist Matthieu Hartley, each previously of post-punk outfit The Journal Spies, to assist develop his imaginative and prescient, the newly-expanded quartet as soon as once more headed off to Morgan Studios. Solely this time, they’d simply seven days and a paltry £3,000 to play with. That’s why haunted home instrumental The Remaining Sound lasts simply 52 seconds (they merely ran out of tape). It might additionally clarify why the remainder of the album seems much more disciplined than its extra freewheeling predecessor.
Certainly, becoming a member of the latter’s engineer Mike Hedges as co-producers, The Remedy made their lack of assets work to their benefit, creating an array of resolutely gloomy but always intriguing tunes which didn’t waste a word.
The minimalistic interaction of instrumental opener A Reflection is typical of the austere environment forward, with the likes of In Your Home, At Night time and the closing title monitor all pursuing a way of bleakness which, as Hedges succinctly summarised within the album’s deluxe version liner notes, had a complete disregard for “commercialism or potential recognition.”
In truth, solely the beguiling indie pop of Play For Immediately presents a respite from the chilliness. Even the ‘romantic’ quantity M, impressed by Smith’s girlfriend Mary, is riddled with emotions of paranoia and nervousness (“However you’re trapped within the mild/ All of the instructions had been improper/ You’ll fall in love with anyone else tonight”).
And though A Forest put them within the UK High 40 for the primary time, it’s a nerve-jangling affair based mostly on a childhood existential nightmare. “It was in all probability the turning level when individuals began listening to the group and considering we might obtain one thing, together with me,” Smith stated to the Chicago Tribune about one of many unlikeliest ‘hits’ of the last decade. After all, Seventeen Seconds resembled the Xanadu soundtrack in comparison with the unremitting distress that quickly adopted.