The Lines Flood Bank
This London post-punk band released a few records on a microscopic label and faded away […]
This London post-punk band released a few records on a microscopic label and faded away during the early Thatcher years. Flood collects songs from the group’s 1981-82 albums Therapy and Ultramarine. They owed a great stylistic debt to Joy Division, as heard on “The Landing,” where Rico Conning’s brooding vocals are buried deep in a subway-tunnel echo and Nick Cash’s tribal rhythms propel the band through the murk. Cash also adds oddball touches such as the flickering snare hits that lift up the otherwise low-key ballad “Have a Heart.” However, the band also indulged in many ballads that quickly lost their momentum. Flood captures many ideas that came and went in U.K. post-punk before image became everything.