Fans will recognize many of the classic Githead tropes here: present and correct are the hypnotic, motorik repetition, the weighty bass lines, and the dreamy melodicism that have come to define the band’s aesthetic.
But Waiting for a Sign isn’t about sticking with a proven formula: Githead are forward-looking musicians, committed to reinvention rather than recycling. Indeed, this album attests to considerable sonic evolution and transformation, staking out a diverse range of new territory for the band.
This is never more prevalent than on the record’s first single ‘Bringing the Sea to the City’, a song that iterates the record’s recurring theme of relocation, establishing a dialectic between a sense of place, or rootedness, and a sense of movement, an interplay between the two contrasting ideas.
They formed in 2004, for what was initially intended as a one-off performance at the Swim record label’s ICA-hosted 10th anniversary event. Over the course of preparations for the gig, though, it quickly became obvious to all involved that there was a natural and rare chemistry between them, one that held the potential for significant organic development.
“There were no songs. Nothing,” says Spigel. “We didn’t talk about it at all, we just stood in a room and played.”
They couldn’t have chosen a more stimulating setting for the first round of recording sessions: the legendary Rockfield Studios near Monmouth on the Welsh-English border, an establishment with a deep rock tradition, having hosted everyone from Freddie Mercury to Lemmy. The presence of these past visitors lingers, and there’s also a special energy to the place and its equipment – machines such as the studio’s vintage echo chamber housing their own creative spirits, with which Githead communed, coaxing out unusual and arresting sounds.
Ultimately, this is another way of framing Waiting for a Sign: Newman, Spigel, Rimbaud, and Franken approached the project as something of a blank slate, their minds free of predefined ideas and open to the creativity fostered by their encounter at Rockfield. Waiting for a Sign is their most accomplished release thus far. It’s the work of a band that’s unable to take the easy option and unwilling to repeat itself; it’s a testament to their continued capacity for invention and their ability to surprise their listeners – and themselves.
Githead will perform tracks from Waiting for A Sign for the first time at DRILL : BRIGHTON – Wire’s festival already in its 3rd and most ambition incarnation. The Festival takes places in venues across the city between December 4th – 7th 2014. For more information visit: For more information visit: http://drillfestival.
