Andy “GLOK” Bell teams up with Insult To Injury’s Timothy Clerkin as Alliance, on Bytes. I can remember reading an interview somewhere with Bell where he explained that the reason he left popular Creation Records band Ride was because other members of the group wanted to take the music in a more electronic direction. Despite his misgivings back then, everything he’s made under his current electronic alias, GLOK, has been absolutely spot on and demonstrated a real understanding of the genre. It’s all been essential, and Alliance is no exception (1).

The opener, Empyrean, rides in on a big, almost bionic bagpipe-like bass synth buzz. Its seismic signal modulations moving, shuffling listeners slowly but surely toward euphoria. Fractured, fluttering female vocals, siren-like lead the way. Recalling Andrew Weatherall’s work with Fuck Buttons, particularly their track Olympians, it’s a plugged-in pagan ritual that seems purpose built for Sean Johnston’s A Love From Outer Space.

AmigA boasts more growling, distorted low-end drones, and again is set at a sort of ceremonial pace. Its wall of synthetic noise made melodic by strategic shifts in key. Packing ping-ponging bleeps, West Coast Beach Boys harmonies are the icing on this Sci-Fi psychedelic nugget. Deep in the mix there’s some deceptively delicate fretwork, all be it with wild wonky tunings, and a decent reference pointwould be Panda Bear & Spectrum’s Reset. 

Singer / songwriter Du Blonde fronts Nothing Ever, a wilfully wayward pop song, that bounces along on boisterous beats and a groovy b-line. The track is later reprised, sucked backwards and transformed into something more in line with the opening numbers. Its drones and distortion peppered with Autechre-like clattering and colliding metallic percussion. Scattered too is a song of sorts, a fizzing folk stomp, with Bell’s spoken lyrics accompanied by a powerful bottom end pulse and a busy, strident strum.

E-Theme continues the strumming, but does so to a programmed approximation of the Funky Drummer break. Its ethereal vocals, woozy, weird tones and textures seem to pay tribute to MBV, while it jumps between juxtaposed guitars and keys. The result is like C86, `60s-obsessed indie meeting Barney Sumner and Johnny Marr’s Electronic (2),

The Witching Hour is a wicked occult chugger, mooching with menace to Happy Mondays’ Wrote For Luck riddim. With some damn fine fuzzbox and razor-sharp riffing, it’s a bit of a flashback to the energetic electro rock’n’roll of Leeds’ loaded Sisters Of Mercy-sampling God Squad. Its acid house acid rock raga boogie is also a clear homage to Spacemen 3, Spiritualized and the aforementioned Spectrum – with added soaring Detroit techno strings.

Not out until November, Alliance can be preordered from Bytes. 

Notes 

(1) The influence of Bell’s sometimes collaborators Andrew Weatherall and Nina Walsh is evident throughout his work as GLOK.
(2) Anyone remember The Orb remixing The Love Kittens covering The Velvet Underground?