Chris & Cosey reissues

I've had a few eureka moments while immersing myself in the recent Chris & Cosey reissues, piecing together connections from disparate outposts and, having read Cosey's autobiography, appreciating how liberated the pair must have felt making this type of music in the post-Throbbing Gristle (TG) era.

First up: Xeno & Oaklander (or Keluar or Boy Harsher or Miss Kittin or any other female-fronted electronic Pop band of this ilk in the last 40 years). In a previous note I suggested the US Coldwave duo had been influenced by Cocteau Twins but they clearly owe a greater debt to these albums by Chris Carter and Cosey Fanni Tutti (particularly from the Technø Primitiv period ~1985). This got me thinking about Peel Sessions. I only started listening to John Peel in the very late eighties and can't remember ever hearing him play Chris & Cosey ever, which surprises me now, as I imagine this would have been exactly the kind of thing he'd champion, particularly their earlier work like Heartbeat (1981) and Songs Of Love & Lust (1984) which carried a sweaty swagger of their early TG experimental sound. And Peel played TG regularly, so what happened there?

On the subject of their earlier (New Wave) albums (1981-84), made at a time when electronic experimentation was rife and melody was acceptable, soaking up influences like Cabaret Voltaire, Cybotron and Kraftwerk, a small but pivotal change was emerging in their work: the introduction of Cosey as a singer. Peppered throughout the hard hitting instrumentals were songs like Love Cuts and This Is Me, indicating their path and what to expect in 1985 with Technø Primitiv. Of the ten tracks on this, their first true Pop album, Cosey's vocals grace all but two. Packed with melody and gentle rhythms it's an easily consumable collection of Pop songs, with the exception of Haunted Heroes (a final nod to TG perhaps?) where a shell-shocked war veteran off-loads his demons over a subtle Ambient composition. Ironically this is my fav track from the album; its dark mood having the same effect as hearing Meat is Murder at the end of The Smiths album - a dark mood immediately vanquished by the sweetest Pop ever in the form of Stolen Kisses that follows.

Trust from 1989 is more fine electronic Pop but with the tougher beats of their earlier albums. Listen to The Ring, the opening bars sound like INXS while Cosey's vocal rings of Siouxsie Sioux. Themes of love and eroticism remain a focus, with sexual grunts and groans gracing tracks like Feel To Me and Infectus. Cosey's cornet is slickly incorporated throughout, lending a vintage eighties Teardrop Explodes vibe at times. And like Haunted Heroes, there's a head-raising moment with the instrumental Rise, a track Luke Turner described as "electroswing". Oliver Huntemann and André Winter, who produced for Xenia Beliayeva, would have been very familiar with Trust. Likewise, Danny Wolfers must be a massive fan? My fav track on Trust is opener Deep Velvet with it's stuttering uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh around three minutes.

The same forthright rhythms abound on Pagan Tango from 1991. And while there isn't a particular standout moment across the eleven tracks, the songwriting is accomplished (clinical even), if arguably now quite dated in sound. For instance, the Trip-Hop beats on I Belong To Me are on point for the time while Feel To Me sports a deep bass sound rooted in the early 90s. If my arm was twisted, I'd pick out the title track as a key moment with Cosey's cornet and the insistent drum machine pattern working in sweet harmony. Of the three re-releases, Pagan Tango has to sport the worst album cover ever! What is that skewed, blue face all about?

A hugely influential duo without a doubt. By the time they released Technø Primitiv it's fair to say they had realised their Pop dream, flushing out the tainted effects of Genesis P*Orridge and Peter Christopherson from their muscial output.