The Membranes - What Nature Gives... Nature Takes Away [Cherry Red Records Promo]

Scheduled for release via Cherry Red Records on June 7th, 2k19 is the new album by The Membranes named "What  Nature Gives... Nature Takes Away" which is their first longplay outing since "Dark Matter / Dark Energy" back in 2015. Spreading out over 16 tracks and more than an hour of playtime the band which had their first release a mere 29 years ago fuses their trademark desolate and melancholia-inducing PostPunk style with heavenly (background) vocals of a 20-piece choir for a change, providing a sweet, interesting contrast to raw, slightly garage-y songs like the dark, greyscale'ish title track which is about to be a hit for creatures of the late night for sure whereas "A Murder Of Crows" provides a powerful, hard P-Funk attitude and "The City Is An Animal (Nature Is Its Slave)" weighs in thoughtful, intense and slightly apocalyptic Spoken Word poetry atop a brooding, yet laid back backing track. "Deep In The Forest Where The Memories Linger" somehow evokes memories of Metallica's "Black Album" even though the whole tune operates on a way more intense, deeper and psychologically twisted level musically and seems to reflect on echoes of legendary PostRock-outfits like Village Of Savoonga from another angle, "Black Is The Colour" brings us back to the dancefloor with a sweet uptempo swing and ProtoPunk-attitude, "A Murmuration Of Starlings On Blackpool Pier" dabbles with a highly dramatic, intense Jaws-score like theme, "The Magical And Mysterious Properties Of Flowers" brings both P-Funk and SkateMetal to mind, the dubbed out "Demon Seed / Demon Flower" rocks Indie - as well as Ska-informed - dancefloors for a reason and "The Ghosts Of Winter Stalk This Land" in a, again, proper Dub-referencing manner, kinda reflecting on the works of producers like Adrian Sherwood whereas "Nocturnal" is another big PostPunk / (No)Wave anthem for universal dancefloor abuse just to pick out a few of the many great cuts featured on this well-recommended longplayer. Get.