consumer electronics: dollhouse songs

Punk/electro/techno-noise trio Consumer Electronics return with their studio album Dollhouse Songs, following 2014's acclaimed Estuary English album and 2015's Repetition Reinforcement 12" on Diagonal. Housed in a sleeve featuring stunning cover artwork by Tokyo-based artist Trevor Brown (creator of the iconic cover art for Whitehouse's Halogen and Quality Time (1995), among others), Dollhouse Songs further chronicles frontman Philip Best's trawl through the seedy thoroughfares of crumbling Tory Britain. "Learn your fucking place," sneers Best, in trademark style, aping the austerity-mongers of Britain's right-wing junta. Ably assisted on dark cracked electronics by Sarah Froelich and stunningly produced by noise/beat guru Russell Haswell, this installment in CE's state-of-the-nation polemics features seven studio tracks: "History of Sleepwalking," "Knives Cut," "Condition of a Hole," "Nothing Natural," "The Push," "Colour Climax," and "Murder Your Masters" (which surfaced briefly in 2015 as an ultra-rare tour-only 7" split with Sleaford Mods). CE now features a twin vocal attack from the Best/Froelich husband-and-wife team, with a furious tide of words spat out over a chaotic spew of mangled beats, bracing synths, and state-of-the-art noise generation. This is their most personal and political album yet. Mastered by Matt Colton at Alchemy for maximum effect. Includes inner sleeve featuring all the lyrics.