Githead Makes a Fresh “Landing”

Third studio album (and fourth release overall) set to drop Nov. 10.

By Blurt Staff

Githead - Colin Newman (of Wire), Malka Spigel and Max Franken (of Minimal Compact), Robin Rimbaud (Scanner) - will be releasing their new album Landing on Nov. 10. Their third full length, it's to appear courtesy their own Swim label. Watch BLURT in the very near future for an in-depth interview with Newman about the project.

The band started in 2004, initially to play as a one-off at the Swim record label's 10th anniversary event at the ICA. It soon became obvious that there was a natural and rare chemistry that could enable real organic development over time. A solid base was fashioned with the band's 2004 debut, the ‘self titling' EP Headgit. Written, recorded and mixed in fervent, whirlwind fashion, all in Swim's London studio, the band used Headgit as a platform on which to build. Its signature hypnotic motorik combined with a fresh, almost raw approach resulted in a set of exciting tracks, some of which remain stage favorites.

The following year, Githead's debut album Profile brought a bigger, lusher sound, with richer songwriting, and several songs that were taken on the road during the band's first European tour. As Githead developed as a live entity, the importance of recording live with the whole band became paramount. 2006 saw Githead move to augment Swim's small studio with Rotterdam's Metropolis 22 studio for recording endeavors. Employing classic ‘old skool' recording techniques and songwriting craft, Art Pop was born, and subsequently well received on its 2007 release. More European live dates followed and the band made its North American debut in Canada in June 2009.

The combination of Githead's growing power as a live band, and the development of work in Swim's studio and during trips to Rotterdam, has led to Landing. On the record, all the familiar components of Githead's distinctive idiom remain in place -- Newman and Rimbaud's minimalist guitar patterns, their supremely catchy melodic sense, Spigel's propulsive bass rumble, Franken's solid, steady drive -- but Landing broadens the band's vocabulary considerably. Adding depth, texture and shading, Landing's ten tracks are somehow simultaneously harder, edgier, more expansive, more organic, more hypnotic.

Crucially, though, while Githead might now be speaking a more sophisticated, nuanced language, they never once lose touch with their essential pop sensibility. It's this unique balance of convention and subtle experimentation that's always distinguished Githead from so many others attempting to plow the same adventurous avant-pop furrow.

Track Listing:

1. Faster

2. Take Off

3. Before Tomorrow

4. Landing

5. Ride

6. Over The Limit

7. Lightswimmer

8. From My Perspective

9. Displacement & Time

10. Transmission Tower