A cacophany of guitars and scree gives way to a monumental, Bonham of a drum break. Margaret Fiedler's coo-ing vocals entice you in and the most sumptuous dub of bass weaves its way into your brain.
The chorus is an awesome release of noise and melody and track has a sumptuous ebb and flow to it.
I remember listening in awe to the drummer and bassist sound-checking when they supported The Wedding Present around the time this came out. A most beautiful, powerful noise.
Stunning stuff. The whole Eva Luna LP is amazing too, as is the 1992 Moonshake Peel Session that featured a number of the tracks in development mode (full Peel Session available below).
Moonshake 1992 Peel Session (mp3 download)
Moonshake Wikipedia page
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ReplyDeleteLOVE this track SOOOOOO much. It's addictive like the best sort of drug.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful Pigeon was my first ever introduction to the world of Moonshake. Got it in late 1992, and was awestruck by the sheer loudness of the hi-hat on the drums here...a HUGE POUNDING rhythm over which Margaret Fiedler's sensual whisper just about rides...and those unsettling, scrapingly loud metallic guitars - just aural bliss.
The b-sides were no less intriguing, either, Beeside, being a lazy, stoned slow-mo jazzy dub workout with barely audible words from Fiedler segueing into Callahan's more righteously indignant vignette Home Survival Kit which galloped along with otherworldly guitar effects.
I later found out through some quick back tracking that Moonshake's debut recording was My Bloody Valentine-inspired and came out on Creation. But getting hold of the album Eva Luna was my priority after hearing this.... and so I did....and I was blown away - first play through of said album I was immediately hooked. What a record! A force ten gale of wayward samples, huge sub-sonic bass lines, sheet metal guitar tsunamis and the contrast between Dave and Margaret's respective muses. Absolutely awesome stuff. It became my most played record of that year by a long margin (overtaking Valhalla Avenue by the equally magnificent Fatima Mansions).
Soon afterwards, I got hold of First and Secondhand Clothes EPs on both vinyl and CD as my third and fourth Moonshake acquisitions....and then I simply never looked back! By late 1993 I had everything by Moonshake MK1 on vinyl and CD formats! And then the buggers split in half didn't they??