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elsewhere classic

Fote – Perfect Sense/Shaking The House

(Le Rey Records, 1981)

Fote was the very short-lived project of Robert Haigh, Trevor Reidy and Deborah Harding, they only recorded 8 songs that were released on the two 12“ EPs Perfect Sense and Shaking The House, released on Robert Haigh’s own Le Rey Records imprint. Obscure and mostly overlooked as these two EPs are, they perfectly capture a scene from the early 80s where bands were searching for a new post-punk sound within the early Industrial and New Wave genres, allowing influences from everything that had gone before, Punk, Free Jazz, Rock, Funk. Fote liberated themselves from all boundaries, improvised and incorporated previously unheard time structures into their songs, topped with deranged vocal parts by Harding, it all blends into a warm, jagged, freeform sound that appears to preempt several different independent and experimental music styles of the future.

Haigh went solo after these recordings and made his Sema project a household name in the ambient noise music universe around bands like Nurse With Wound, the best one out of these solo recordings to check out is Sema’s 1983 mini LP Extract From Rosa Silber, another stunning piece of work, but there is lots more… Not finished there, Haigh went on to become one of the UKs most influential drum & bass producers as Omni Trio. Today he has returned to the piano themes of his 80s Robert Haigh releases and has recorded several beautiful, pure piano albums. Trevor Reidy went on to play drums for different bands like The Monochrome Set, Danielle Dax and on Nurse With Wound’s Insect & Individual Silenced for example.

Looking back the Fote material still stands as some of the freshest and unique music created at the time, well worth checking out and recently rereleased in 2019 as a single album simply entitled Fote by the long running Robot Records label that specializes in the obscure and experimental. The LP features original sleeve artwork by Deborah Harding and cut at 45rpm the short eight track album sounds glorious. A real overlooked gem that comfortably sits shoulder to shoulder with some of its great contemporaries, even from labels like 4AD, Some Bizzare or Factory. The eight tracks on the Fote LP are all we have from this great trio, a wonderful document from a very vibrant time in music. Mind blown.

(Jenus)