On Our Big Fat Merry-Go-Round

(Blanco-Y-Negro/LP/CD)
William Smith

A-House's sound is built on the solid granite foundations of a few rock cliches. You know the sort of things: galloping drums, thunderous bass, guitar chords that fly like shrapnel, hearty vocals, spirited choruses, and lyrical slogans. But don't let that put you off. Where the value of A House could have plummeted at the hands of a pop market keen to invest in modernisiation, they retain an appeal of great architectureal character.   

Blanco-Y-Negro would like to think that while Luddities such as The Wedding Present - with whom A-House have much in common - seem to be experiencing a temporary lack of interest, their own properties - which also include James - possess enough special features of their own to warrant immediate attention.

When A-House open up with 'Call Me Blue,' they already have a fire in the hearth. This has much to do with David Couse's rallying cry of a vocal which calls to arms the band's feverish support and, in an industrial struggle, would probably achieve a general strike. He's an excitable fellow who, unlike The Weddies' David Gedge who affects a deceptively brutish vulnerability, seems to wilfully encourage revence and retribution.
 
Although songs and titles convey an abruptness popularised by Morrissey and endorsed by Gedge ('I Want To Kill Something', 'Watch Out, You're Dead'), and go on to assure us that what they say is socially real so therefore must be right, A House are the faithful servants of fairness.

'I'll Always Be Grateful' is a splendidly pastcral admission of selfishness. 'That's Not The Truth' poisons the ear that poisons the music journalist's pen, while 'Violent Love' sentences the woman beater to lifelong shame.

Spiritually, A-House echo the literary rather than intellectual thoughtfulness of James, for whom words and pictorial images are mysterious pointers to a slightly elusive sensitivity. Only A-House aren't as haunting. Snatches of lyrics are splashed in bold, colourful lettering on a sleeve which, like the record within, relies on evergy rather than expertise. A House are eager to please and do not labour the potential limitations of their creeping bombass content with 13 short songs of speculative importance.