Dancing On A Volcano is the debut album from Manchester based Weimar the five piece Noir Cabaret post punk band who formed in 2016 featuring John Armstrong, Aidan Cross, Anthony Edwards, Stephen Sarsen, Johann Kloos and assorted extras. The Album was produced by Christopher Guest and Adam Crossley at Vibratone Sound Studio.
After a very short and cloudy Prelude the album gets going properly with Soho Rain, which is a phrase that still gives me nightmares for what happened in that Soho Rain many years ago, that was a very different tale to the one being re-counted here, of the dodgy Spieler In Archer Street and the clippies and the joints they haunted, rather than a desperate junkie throwing himself under my wheels on Wardour street. As this slowly unfolds you may need a few listens to get the whole story, but it's well worth the effort as the vocals go a bit Jake Shillingford on us just before the Ronnie Ross style sax solo.
The Sociopath needs Spanish guitar and erudite lyrics with trumpets and the odd chin stroking moment before The Sociopath loses the plot as we work out exactly who they are pointing the finger at.
I Smashed The Looking Glass has some insistent guitars as the vocals try to explain what drove them to Smash The Looking Glass and in whose best interests the action was taken as they try to figure it for themselves, it gets properly frantic towards the end when the glass smashes.
The Hangers-On is about the people who surround the rich and famous and why they do the things they do, with a knowing nudge and a wink and a pared back tune for this tale to unfold.
Arandoras Fire is a dark tale of wartime tragedy, death and despair, as the sailors and prisoners die and the ship goes down, as usual the myths and cover-ups make this one more Churchillian tragedy.
This song will make you go and find out more about this tragic incident on July 2 1940 when the Blue Star Liner went down and 805 people died. This is a dark swirling mass of eventually distorted and strained screaming guitars this song needs to be heard, a total stand out.
Polished Decay is a galloping post punk blues for the sort of Polished Decay we can see all around us now as things fall apart and we slip further into decay. Why is the Sax always the instrument of decay among the debris of the shattering guitar shards and that steady beat.
Hunter's Moon is slow and careful as it describes the events the music carefully accentuates, almost as much as she did, as she wandered by, the snatched aside, its consequences as he asks for witnesses.
Faded Queen Of The Night is a real street walking temptress of a song, with more echoes of My Life Story (The Band), as her deeds and desperate measures used to keep her crown as Queen Of The Night this instrumental break is oddly contrasting to the tale being told.
Nights In Spanish Harlem has a No Wave guitar sound but with far softer sax than The Contortions, as they take us up to yet another sleazy encounter that leave him running away with a bounty on his head, what will happen next and will he get away, at least they don't harm any roses.
Heaven On High Street East gives enough hints in its title to give an idea of what it might be about, and then you listen to the lyrics and it goes somewhere unexpected, this is a slow kitchen sink drama tune of a very contemporary type.
The album closes with the flute folk funk blues of The Tattermedalions as they stroll the streets once more, taking in the rot and decay before them, as everything comes apart at the seams, apart from this tune that feels about spot on as a way to close a very intriguing album that you should spend some time with.
Find out more at https://weimarband.bandcamp.com/album/dancing-on-a-volcano https://weimarbanduk.com/product/dancing-on-a-volcano/ https://www.facebook.com/WeimarTheBand
