The Fall

Your Future Our Clutter (Domino)

By Dana Raidt
Published: May 12th, 2010 | 1:00pm

Factory Records and the Smiths will always be Manchester musical landmarks, but the Fall—at least in its latest incarnation—embodies the dreary industrialism of the town without romanticizing it. As with 2007’s Reformation Post TLC (Narnak), on Your Future Our Clutter, the conveyor belts and cogs of the town's factories and machinery can be heard in the repetitive, mid-tempo “Chino” and “Cowboy George.” The riffs of “Hot Cake” are straightforward and loud, and Wanda Jackson’s “Funnel of Love” even gets a utilitarian makeover.

Even as the band’s musical style has dramatically shifted over the last couple of decades, founder and singer Mark E. Smith’s vocals have remained a dependable constant: distant and voyeuristic with the occasional snarling outburst. Unfortunately, his deadpan rendering of “Funnel of Love” strips the song of emotion and makes Jackson’s rockabilly gem seem a bit like it’s being performed at karaoke. However, the rest of the songs on Your Future Our Clutter are enhanced by Smith’s stream-of-consciousness diatribes about pop culture (including Murder She Wrote), history, and blue-collar life (“No one has ever called me sir in my entire life”). The album comes to a close with the down-tempo “Weather Report 2,” which fittingly ends with Smith hissing, “You don’t deserve rock and roll” over droning feedback.

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The Fall [formerly] official Web site

Domino Records