For Against, In the Marshes

reviewed by dave heaton

The third CD in Words-on-Music's reissue series of the band For Against is as exciting and rewarding as the first two. In the Marshes was released as a 10" EP in 1990, but actually recorded by the original line-up during their 1986 sessions for Echelons, their debut LP. While as a proud Midwesterner I'm hesitant to dwell on this too much, I still find it hard to believe that in 1986 in Nebraska a band was making music that seasoned music fans, then or now, would have trouble distinguishing from the best of the Factory or 4AD rosters…in terms of style or quality. In the Marshes rushes forward less energetically than the debut album. As the title indicates, it's more like being stuck in dark, dreamy territory. That isn't to say that the band isn't playing tightly in unison, or that the music has any less urgency to it. There's still a sense of drama, danger even, hanging in the air.

"Amnesia" is the finest sort of dark post-punk anthem, with its persistent guitar as much of a hook as the chorus of "try to remember". That song is perhaps the most "rock", though the alternative version included as one of two bonus tracks amplifies that rock factor immensely. The song that simultaneously entrances and creeps me out the most is "The Purgatory Salesman", with its casually foreboding bass and anxious guitar. The closest to "pop" – in melody, rhythm or tone – is either "Amen Yves" or "Fate", yet neither is any lighter or less bleak. Not counting the bonus tracks, In the Marshes ends with the title track, as spellbinding as any of the other songs and possibly even more indicative of that feeling of fear and helplessness that winds its way throughout this recording. The guitar-playing alone is spectacular, in a strange way a hopeful presence within the darkness.

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