Oxford prose over post-rock and odd-beats.

My Elixir; My Poison Album Press Release

Welcome to the rebirth of art rock. MBICR's debut album of last year, 'Indian Ink' (Jitter), was a staggering statement of intent from a band whose live outings up to that point had careered from the sublime to the shambolic. Dark, desolate and beautifully crafted, layers of guitar and synthesizer noises provided a wonderfully bleak backdrop for vocalist Emily Gray's paradoxically deadpan and hysterical monologues. Such a mix of childlike fear, passionate frustration and alternately ambient and venomous noise conjured up magical images of Lydia Lunch fronting Mogwai - a comparison the band were at once bemused and flattered by.

Having spent much of the past year touring the UK (inc. dates with Pulp, Smog, Electrelane), recording sessions for John Peel and Xfm, playing live on Radio 1, and organizing and playing at an occupation in protest against student tuition fees, MBICR prepared for the second phase of their mission.

Having signed to Truck Records in spring 2002, the band will release a new album entitled ‘My Elixir My Poison’ on 10th March2003 with a single to follow later in the spring. They have just recorded their third Peel session and March will also see the band jetting off to Communist Russia itself to perform in Moscow.

‘My Elixir; My Poison’ was recorded over the summer at Truck’s very own studio’s situated in a barn in the middle of nowhere. The band had all just left university and were homeless. The solution? To sleep, eat, drink, write and record in the barn. It was cold, wet and times were hard, not least when after just two weeks one of the original founders of the band, guitarist Mark Halloran, decided that it was time for him to stop devoting his life to the band and went back to London to concentrate on becoming a doctor. Nonetheless after 2 months of torment and god-knows how many cigarettes and bottles of wine the band left the studio with an album to be truly proud of.

In times like these, where music has to be overly-simplistic, blindingly obvious and numbingly unchallenging, a band like Meanwhile Back In Communist Russia are more important than ever. Their roots lie back in the late 70s / early 80s offshoots of New Wave and trace a strange lineage through the likes of Brian Eno, Steve Albini, Michael Nyman, Godspeed you Black Emporer, and Slint. They're political, but without resorting to empty slogans; sexually charged without recourse to cheap titillation, and capable of extreme noise without relying on hammering the listener into submission. Emily's claustrophobic tales of paranoia unfold like childhood nightmares in tandem with the music, which uncoils from cool ambience to raging blizzard to a point where the listener finds themselves consumed by screams and white noise. It's an astonishing experience

Facts:
Voted number 11 in John Peel's Festive 50 on BBC Radio 1 2001
Voted 15th Worst Band Name of All-Time by Mark and Lard
Supported Smog on UK tour in London and Brighton
Supported Pulp at Radio 1 Sound City in Birmingham
Signed publishing contract with Rough Trade
Recorded debut album 'Indian Ink' in 5 days during summer 2001
Recorded Peel Session for BBC Radio 1
Recorded live session for XFm, London

" A satisfying moodscape of swooshing Boards of Canada electronica, intense Sonic Youth-like crashing, textured guitar work, and bitter spoken monologues " *** Q
"... Poetry for the post Trainspotting, post-rock generation" Mojo
''... A welcome challenge to the aural senses" KKKK Kerrang!