Bauhaus – Mask

back in stock. in 1981, bauhaus had no competition in the field of ‘goth’ music and could afford to experiment a little. ‘mask’ is the group’s second album, and it contains some of their best work. there is the groove of ‘dancing’, a track that contains one of the album’s two curious references to ballet dancer nijinsky (the other is in ‘muscle in plastic’), and the creepy ‘hollow hills’, its bass-driven skeleton decorated with distant peals of feedback and sparse drumming. the title cut features peter murphy singing over a backwards music track that adds considerable menace to the bizarre lyrics. originally 10 songs long, the cd adds five supplemental tracks gathered from singles. these extra tracks include the comparatively straightforward white reggae of ‘harry’ and a weird 4-part song wherein each band member takes the lead. bassist david jay sets the falsely soothing tale of a trial to the rattle of a drum machine. murphy’s piece is a guide to making fish cakes (?!). drummer kevin haskins provides a series of such suggestions as ‘avoid risks, stay at home,’ and guitarist daniel ash contributes a short acoustic guitar piece with backwards vocals.

Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue, Remastered, Yellow