To the uninformed, the video above feels like obscure archival footage of a lost hillside tribe from the 70s that disappeared from Earth in the wake of a little-documented acid wave that swept through a meek Anglo province. But, in fact, the footage is from less than a month ago, and Way Through, the pastoral punk band whose music accompanies the video, uses it to illustrate their bucolic mission: to make an album born from rural England’s specific breed of soul. Watching the Abbots Bromley Horn Dancers make obeisance to their caboshed god, we witness the juxtaposition of ancient marginal music with the marginal music of today. What a strange reference for young punk — a cultural relic carbon dated to the 11th century. Despite the manicured, spherical shrubbery and the Velcro shoes, “Gallant Show’s” video gets at something olde, something visibly lost but spiritually indelible in Way Through’s world, which does as good a job of channeling ghosts as the punk of urban decay in London or NYC.
The album Arrow Shower is out now on Upset the Rhythm (TMT News). Listen to it here.
• Way Through: http://www.upsettherhythm.co.uk/waythrough.shtml
• Upset the Rhythm: http://www.upsettherhythm.co.uk
