Who Killed Nancy Johnson? - Trash

  Forming in 2015, Reading post-punks Who Killed Nancy Johnson? (https://www.facebook.com/WhoKilledNancyJohnson/) are a band I've featured on here several times and I usually mention that they're getting better with every release and so I was always going to be interested in hearing how their debut album turned out. Yesterday that album was released and after a couple of plays I think it's safe to say that all expectations have been met. They drip fed us 3 songs so we knew more or less what we were getting but I'm happy to report that the unheard 7 tracks are the equal of what's come previously.

  A quick catch up if you're unfamiliar with the band. The line up is Stefan Ball (Vocals), Pete Moulton (Guitar/Vocals), Mark Wren (Drums/Vocals) and Dawid Bychowski (Bass). They've previously released several eps & singles which you should check out. Their music is atmospheric and reminds me a little of early Killing Joke.

  I see Six is tagged on Bandcamp as Dystopian so it's no surprise that the title is riffing on a scene in George Orwell's 1984 when Winston Smith is punished for believing his own eyes rather that The Party's version of reality. Sadly Orwell's prediction of the future is all to close to home in the way that our leaders tell us one thing despite it being pretty obvious (in the words of the song I'm featuring today) they're talking trash ("the words and the pictures clash"). Another slogan favoured by Big Brother was "Ignorance Is Strength" and that seems to be very much a mantra shared by those currently in power.

  On album opener Not Lizards, the band tell us not to believe the conspiracy theories about the economic elite being lizards or aliens but that we should see them for what they really are, a cancerous part of the human race. This theme continues with City as we're told how the wealthy elite have always walked among us and on Communist, the band wonder why people are considered childish if they want things to be fair and want people to be more considerate both towards each other and to the world we all inhabit. Album closer Notre Dame compares the famous Paris cathedral with the seemingly impregnable power wielded by the ruling classes and suggests that like the medieval monument maybe the elite will one day fall.... "Let it burn" being the album's closing sentence. It's an album very relevant to the world we live in today and possibly the world as it's always been.

  It's available on cd and digitally : https://wknancyj.bandcamp.com/album/i-see-six
 
  It seems pretty obvious who this song is about and it's a good summation of the album's themes of misinformation and the smoke and mirrors ethos of those in power. It's called Trash...

Roguish twinkle in your eye you must have been a naughty boy at school Bluff and candid when it suits a charming disregard for every rule It’s hard to shake the feeling your attempt to act appealing’s aimed at fools You’re talking trash The words and pictures clash You’re talking trash Well I’m waiting hoping some day truth might break And we’ll believe we’ll have to say it every day: We made a big mistake Listening to your trash Rhetoric instead of fact And it was all a load of crap Everything you say, everything you write, every manifesto you create, every number you make up, every story you cobble together, every principle you pretend you have, is trash Shut up