Clan of Xymox (album)

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Clan of Xymox
Clan of Xymox - Debut album.jpg
Studio album by Clan of Xymox
Released 1 July 1985
Recorded Palladium Studios, Edinburgh
Genre Darkwave, gothic rock
Length 62:02 (with bonus tracks)
Label 4AD
Producer Clan of Xymox and Ivo Watts-Russell
Clan of Xymox chronology
Subsequent Pleasures EP
(1983)String Module Error: Match not found1983
Clan of Xymox
(1985)
Medusa
(1986)Medusa1986
Singles from Clan of Xymox
  1. "A Day"/"Stranger"
    Released: May 1985

Clan of Xymox is Clan of Xymox's eponymous 1985 debut album, and their first release on the 4AD label (CAD503, CAD503CD, GAD503CD).[1]

The album was produced by 4AD co-founder Ivo Watts-Russell and recorded at Palladium Studios in Edinburgh. The remixes included on the album ("A Day" and "Stranger") were mixed and produced by John Fryer at Blackwing Studios in London.

Fryer had gained notability for working with seminal bands on the 4AD, Mute, Rough Trade and Beggars Banquet record labels, including Depeche Mode, Fad Gadget and Cocteau Twins.

The album drew comparisons to Joy Division and The Cure and created a buzz in clubs.[2] Reviewers in subsequent years have derided the album as dated and derivative, but accurately reflecting the emerging goth sound of the time, with "icy, throbbing keyboards; bummed-out vocals; chilly, robotic percussion; gloomy, ethereal guitars; and unusual, cryptic song titles".[3]

In 1985, Melody Maker pronounced the debut "a nervous and brilliant record" from "guitar-splayed firefields of 'Cry in the Wind' and 'Stumble and Fall', and thrill(!) to the system clearing, bass bloodied '7th Time'... The range and depth of this mysterious record do not exclude arrogant electro dance anthems like 'Stranger' and 'A Day'; nor do Xymox avoid sentimentality as on 'No Human Can Drown'".[4]

In the same year, Sounds deemed the album "a strange and wonderful debut from 4AD's first signing since Dead Can Dance. Particular favourite is 'A Day' which suggests so many places, colours feelings and despairs that it is totally awe inspiring".[5]

Track listing

All songs written and composed by Ronny Moorings, Pieter Nooten, and Anka Wolbert

No. Title Length
1. "A Day"   6:40
2. "No Words"   4:26
3. "Stumble and Fall"   5:05
4. "Cry in the Wind"   5:16
5. "Stranger"   7:41
6. "Equal Ways"   5:44
7. "7th Time"   4:38
8. "No Human Can Drown"   3:22
CD reissue bonus tracks
No. Title Length
9. "Muscoviet Musquito"   4:03
10. "Stranger" (Remix) 5:21
11. "A Day" (Remix) 9:11
Total length:
62:02

Personnel

Xymox
Producers, Engineers
  • Ivo Watts-Russell – Producer
  • Jon Turner – Engineer
  • John Fryer – Engineer (producer on remixes)
  • Keith Mitchell – Assistant Engineer
Graphic Design

References

  1. Clan of Xymox. 4AD. 23 March 1999
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  3. Clan of Xymox at AllMusic
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