Just put on Movement yesterday for the first time in ages and was blown away by this track all over again. It's hard to separate New Order's early music from the circumstances that led to their formation - under that name, I mean - and I'm not really sure how this would sound to me if I was hearing it for the first time without any clue about what preceded it. But with that history in mind, I find it so hauntingly beautiful, and almost innocent in its hesitancy. Everyone loathed the production on this record but in some ways the muddled sound is almost fitting, as it underscores the sense of bewilderment surrounding the band in those very early years.
The song starts the album off on a relatively high note; most of the rest of it sounds underdeveloped and you can sort of see why they turned away from this style not long after - they just weren't comfortable in it. I still find it almost mesmerising to listen to, though, even if I'm not entirely sure how much of that is the music itself and how much is to do with the events that brought it about.
From 1981.
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