REVIEW: David Thomas and foreigners, Bay City (Thirsty Ear)
- Joann D. Ball
Pere Ubu has always ventured on the experimental side of the musical tracks. So, it should be no surprise that Pere Ubu frontman and visionary David Thomas moves in the same direction on his new solo project Bay City.
On this musical adventure, David Thomas is joined by songwriter and composer Jorgen Teller (on guitars and sampler), Per Buhl Acs (on clarinet and guitar) and P.O. Jorgens (drums and percussion). Now known as David Thomas and foreigners, the quartet came together in 1996 at an improvisational concert in Copenhagen. Originally called Greenland, and the foursome toured Denmark under that name in 1998 and 1999.
Bay City is the result of occasional recording sessions held on a farm in Denmark during the past three years. The record's title is a reference to the works of novelist Raymond Chandler who uses the name as a metaphor of corruption and evil. Despite it European origins, Bay City suggests the dark underbelly of an urban American city with Thomas' sung and spoken vocals delivered over a mellow and laid back avant garde jazz-rock sound. And there's something vaguely industrial (without the intensity and beats-per-minute, of course) about the instrumentation, due in part to the atypical percussion that drives the twelve tracks on the release.
The industrial buzz, drone and simple beat of the lead track "Clouds of You" echoes latter-day Wire. In stark contrast, the quartet's original song "White Room" evokes lonely images of smoky jazz hipness and features Thomas singing and speaking over the strains of an electric guitar and a sultry saxophone. The track is so effective in its ability to suggest image and mood that it appears again as a record closing bonus track. "Black Coffee Dawn," meanwhile, combines the two approaches of these two tracks and infuses it with a brighter and lighter feel. The bouncy "Charlotte," on the other hand, showcases Thomas' trademark affected vocals and suggests some of Pere Ubu's finest moments.
With Bay City, David Thomas and foreigners have produced a fresh and innovative collection of songs and spoken word pieces. And the theatrical leanings of the lyrics and (sound)tracks here is no coincidence. Thomas is currently working on a theater effort also titled "Bay City," and it is somewhat of a sequel to his previous theater piece "Mirror Man" which was produced in London in 1998 by the South Bank Organization. For Pere Ubu fans, Bay City should be well received as a welcomed effort that only increases anticipation for the band's new release scheduled later this year to celebrate the Cleveland outfit's 25th anniversary.
