The Fall’s Dragnet: An Album for Abandoned Machinery
Do you remember that movie The Brave Little Toaster? It is a story about this little toaster who goes on a journey with an electric blanket, a vacuum cleaner, a lamp, and a radio to find the boy who left them in a log cabin. These appliances have been alone for years and as they “wake up” and come to understand their abandonment, I imagine in a non-Disney version of this movie, they would sound a lot like The Fall on their album Dragnet.
I know this is a bizarre comparison, but dig it: every time I listen to Dragnet, I think of abandoned, rusted machinery coming to life. There is a lot of mechanical spitting and coughing, bouts of rattling and screeching, ungreased metallic joints flexing and contracting. Like a car that hasn’t been driven in years, suddenly is taken out for a joy ride and after the initial combustive shock of automation, the car hits its’ stride and cruises down the highway. Even a lot of the guitar sounds on this record remind me of finnicky odometer or thermometer needles, bouncing about at their random will. This is basically exactly what I think the opening song on this album, “Psykick Dancehall,” sounds like.
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