Pere Ubu
Irene b/w Moonstruck
Fire Records

This is the appetizer for the new Ubu album Carnival Of Souls, due for release in September. Although David Thomas utters the words 'Goodnight Irene' several times it has little to do with the American song of that title brought into the light by Leadbelly in the 1930s, later a no. 1 hit by The Weavers in 1950 and covered by Frank Sinatra, Jerry Lee Lewis, Ry Cooder, Brian Wilson, Kevin Ayers, Tom Waits and Meat Puppets to name but a few. It seem to have little in common with the song "Goodnite Irene" from Ubu's 1991 album Worlds In Collision either. The brand new "Irene" must be one of the calmest songs to ever come out of the Ubu cannon, a simple electric guitar, a clarinet, some discreet percussive rattles and synthesizer bleeps and David Thomas' vocals at its most relaxed. A real Pere Ubu ballad if ever there was one. But is it really as calm and relaxed under the surface? Anyhow, I have no doubt that the rest of the album will sound quite different. "Moonstruck" is a remix of "Drag The River", another song from the forthcoming album. I had troubles to download it before the full moon, so we'll just have to wait and see.

Copyright © 2014 JP