Merchandise are a band impossible to pigeon hole. Gone are the days of the early DIY tendencies witnessed in the raw Children of Desire and Totale Night EPs, the band instead chose to release a polished guitar record for its full length debut on 4AD. Unashamedly pop, it was laden with catchy hooks and sing along choruses that created divides within the fan base. But despite its mild mannered nature, the record was recorded in the bedroom of singer Carson Cox. With his added rebellious lyrics it was by all intents and purposes, still a punk record. Merchandise were after all only ever a punk band in spirit rather than sonically. The release of A Corpse Wired For Sound presents the band in a new evolutionary phase, as the four piece finally set foot into a studio and ditch the pop inclinations for explorations into sampling and overdubbing.

This record also represents the first time the creative focal point has not been based in his home town of Tampa, Florida. In a somewhat poetic and extreme build up to the album’s creation, Cox decided to sell all of his possessions and move to New York and Berlin, where he now divides his time equally. Regardless of whether the decision was based on desperation or delusion, it has shaped the framework of this album, with the morbid themes of loneliness ‘Silence’ and alienation ‘Right Back to the Start’ cropping up throughout.

With processed drum machines, hazy bass reverberations and masses of effect laden guitar from one of the most accomplished guitarists around in David Vassalotti, the album is the sound of a band comfortable in whatever form of music they choose to convey. ‘Flowers of Sex’ initiates proceedings and is the one composition that could fit on any of the band’s former releases. With a pulsating, repetitive drum beat used as the catalyst, the tracks morphs into what The Smiths would have sounded like if Morrissey had dabbled with hallucinogens. Other highlights include the synthetic rock soundscape of ‘Lonesome Sound’ and the epic arpeggiated finale ‘My Dream is Yours’. However, filler tracks such as ‘Shadow of the Truth’ and ‘Crystal Cage’ make the album a good rather than a great one. These songs are carefully crafted but lack any real contrast from one another and leave the listener craving for a intense cathartic crescendo that fails to materialise.

Cox’s word play and crooning vocals are the key cogs in what make Merchandise unique though. This ramped up production and heightened musical landscape has created the perfect structure to support the singer’s precise phrases and subtle lyrical nuances. In earlier albums his words would have been lost in a maze of distorted guitars and under-produced compositions, whereas now his voice is the focal point. “Blood is thicker than water, but both will go down the same drain,” he serenades to the listener on the mellow ‘I will not Sleep Here’, as the music glides along as a background character, allowing the vocals a prominent position.

A Corpse Wired for Sound is a phrase borrowed from a short story name The Secret History of World War 3 by JG Ballard. Up for numerous interpretations, it is a title that encapsulates Merchandise; a band that you feel you have pinned down who then suddenly appear with another rebirth questioning each of your preceding assumptions.
Paul Hill

Website: merchandise.com
Facebook: facebook.com/wmerchandise
Twitter: twitter.com/wmerchandise