Lay It Down In Full View by Paul Duffus
Out Now
Lay It Down In Full View is a group of 14 essays in regards to the seminal rock band Silkworm, the primary ever e book about this band.
Lay It Down In Full View (or Lay It Down In Full View: Collected Writings On Silkworm And Their Music, to offer it it’s full title) was an fascinating proposition to evaluate, not least as a result of I’d not heard of them beforehand. It could seem that I’m not the one one, as within the introduction Duffus writes: “I feel most Silkworm followers have given up attempting to reply the large unanswerable query: ‘We love this music so why doesn’t everybody really feel this fashion?’”
Why certainly? Initially, future Silkworm members Tim Midyett, Joel Phelps, and Andy Cohen had been all a part of Ein Heit in 1985 in Montana earlier than altering their identify. Energetic then between 1987 and 2005, they relocated to Seattle in 1990 and had been joined by drummer Michael Dahlquist. The band got here to an finish following the tragic demise of Dahlquist in a street site visitors accident attributable to the previous mannequin Jeanette Sliwinski, herself attempting to commit suicide. The band had been signed to plenty of labels, together with the cult US labels Matador and Contact and Go and sometimes engineered / produced by the late Steve Albini.
Fortunately (for the likes of me), editor Duffus has taken the bull by the horns and produced this quantity over the past two years after in search of out writers who’re additionally followers of Silkworm, which offers each an evaluation and a celebration of the band and their music. Maybe disingenuously, moderately than heading straight into the writing I headed for the 32-page image part which incorporates a wide range of press pictures, private images, flyers and posters, usually with amusing notations from band members Cohen and Midyett.
The band solely performed two gigs within the UK, each in 2002, at The Storage, Highbury Nook and All Tomorrows Events, curated by the aforementioned Albini/Shellac, so it’s unsurprising that a lot of the essays are written by people born and bred within the US. Not that it’s a problem, nonetheless does imply that some references to manufacturers or people might slip beneath the radar or require a fast Google search.
My favorite sections, with none disrespect to the opposite contributors, are these by Tom Kipp, himself a member of the Ein Heit, offering an preliminary timeline for the band in addition to his piece on publish punk. Albeit not particularly about Silkworm, the latter offers an American view into the world wherein they got here. Duffus’s essay centred round Don’t Look Again, the opening observe of the band’s ninth album, 2004’s It’ll Be Cool, itself a business flop, is spectacular, pertaining to the significance of sequencing albums and forensically breaking down the observe, placing it into context in opposition to the band’s different recordings and numerous different issues.
As a newcomer to the band, one of many key parts is the dialog between US musician Matt Kadane, Andy Cohen and Tim Midyett of the band in 2024 completely for the e book. For somebody approaching the artist for the primary time, akin to myself, this is a useful perception and I’m positive may even be a significant promoting level for followers of the band too. I’d say that is a necessary quantity for anybody thinking about Silkworm or the US scene within the Nineties and early 2000s.
I’ll go away the final phrase to Silkworm’s guitarist Tim Midyett, “Lay It Down In Full View is persistently considerate and insightful to a level that’s each flattering and stunning. So usually I discovered myself studying about references, coruscations, and quirks so misplaced to time that it was as if I used to be simply discovering out about them. This e book is a present for us, and it captures the spirit of Silkworm fantastically. Ceaselessly we’re in debt to all who took half.”
The discharge of Lay It Down In Full View coincides with the band’s first stay dates in 20 years within the USA.
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All phrases by Iain Key. See his writer profile right here or discover him through his LinkTree
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