In the eerie shadows of the alleyway, she asks me if I have a light. I strike a match against the brick of the warehouse and offer it to the end of her cigarette.
“Thanks,” she tells me, “for the light, and for knocking out that clown over there.”
She gestures toward an incapacitated goon laid out on a trash heap.
“Don’t worry, sweetheart,” I tell her. “He won’t bother you no more.”
I light myself another cigarette and make a modest attempt at conversation to relax the dame’s nerves.
“There’s a new record coming out in July,” I tell her.
Her gaze shifts toward my weary eyes.
“It’ll be on Important Records July 10,” I continue.
“That does sound important,” she chimes in.
“Oh it is, it’s by a multidisciplinary group called L A N D, that features contributions from David Sylvian, Daniel O’Sullivan, Duke Garwood, and whole bunch of other cats, with the two creators taking a directorial role.”
“Sounds fascinating,” she says flirtatiously.
“Believe you me, it’ll knock your socks off. The album was sculpted in Reykjavik by Ben Frost.”
“Oh, Ben Frost totally fucking destroys,” she says, breaking character.
And everything I’m telling that dame is true. L A N D’s debut, Night Within, is a work approaching an “apocalyptic noir narrative,” as the band puts it. She pretends to shiver, and I offer her my trench coat. I walk her from the alley through to the downtown streets, dimly illuminated by flickering lamp posts. I’m not sure what any of this means, but I got a hunch she’s worth the trouble.
“How about that coffee you offered me?” she asks.
“How about it,” I say. “How about it.”
Night Within tracklisting:
01. City of Glass
02. Stillman
03. Into the Blue
04. Nighthawks
05. Cosmopolis
06. Hotel Room
07. Cold Desire
• L A N D: http://soundcloud.com/landnightwithin
• Important: http://importantrecords.com