Ioana Nica takes a look at 20 of the best albums of 2014 - episode nineteen: Perverted By Language – Boxers

23.12.2014 …

Par ioana nica

Warning: this is not a countdown. Not a Top 20.

‘Beyond hopes, fears, and expectation’ ‘Turn on the light’

Perverted by Language is the title of a notorious album released by The Fall in the ‘80s. None of the songs on that record have this title. But, coincidentally or not, Perverted By Language is also the name of a Brussels-based group. And on their first full LP – Boxers – there is a track entitled Perverted by Language. With such huge reference on their shoulders and a musical style extremely close to the post-punk scene, it’s pretty understandable why the band had to state that “We never set out to sound like anything or anyone.” Perfectly reasonable because “perverted by language” is a quite significant stand-alone phrase. There are many causes for the human feeling of estrangement and language can be one of them. The philosophy of language proved it many times.

The album is very emotional, dark and touching. The voice of Jeremy Thomas is powerful and rich, the bass line is distinctive, tracks like Amandine make links to different universes, as the one of Mark Lanegan, the guitars can go heavy and overall, the album has a more sonorous message than Joy Division’s. Why? Because it has the necessary anger and cynicism to allow thinking outside the box and fighting demons like boxers.