It's nigh on impossible to keep up with the constant flow of creatvity that is Momus aka Nick Currie: 30+ albums, averaging one per year, as well as books, YouTube videos, "Open University" podcasts (since 2016) and performances, to name but a few strands to this seemingly ceaseless outpouring of material. The Momus website and Momasu YouTube page are a great source of news and information, sometimes jostling with one another to keep up with the latest releases. At the end of August, a video for 'a disco mix' of The Hydra appeared, a track from a forthcoming EP promised for the autumn but - as far as I'm aware - with an as yet unconfirmed release date. Another new song, Orchestras, presumably from the same forthcoming EP, has also been recently previewed. If
you're more familiar with Momus' work from the 1980s/1990s,
particularly his period on the Creation label, you'll continue to find
much to enjoy here. Currie is a master lyricist and his economical
musical palette serves the songs well.
In May, Momus released Athenian, according to the press release, a 16-song album "Fusing influences ranging from Benny
Hill to Wyndham Lewis, and drawing as much from comedians like Frankie
Howerd, Ted Ray and Marty Feldman as music heavyweights like Bowie,
Cohen, Georges Moustaki and Tom Jobim".
It's the second of Currie's albums recorded during the pandemic, after 2020's Vivid. Following the easing of travel restrictions, Athenian was inspired by a return to the city and memories of living there for a couple of years five decades previously. Opening in typically contrary fashion with Swansong, it's another lyrical iron fist in a musical velvet glove, with a brilliantly closing verse:
The day will come when people can be strong
As strong as the sun
When we have learned our dirty tricks don't pay
And evil's no fun
That day of honesty and kindliness
And friendliness and decency
Will come the day after the day I live for me
Obviously
As strong as the sun
When we have learned our dirty tricks don't pay
And evil's no fun
That day of honesty and kindliness
And friendliness and decency
Will come the day after the day I live for me
Obviously
Greyland is a searing take on post-Brexit little Englanders and NIMBYism:
I love thisness not thatness
And hereness not thereness
It's local not global for me
I love what I know
And you can all go
To hell if you cannot agree
And hereness not thereness
It's local not global for me
I love what I know
And you can all go
To hell if you cannot agree
Coco The Clown is a sharp swipe at the government, particularly then-Health Secretary Matt Hancock, who was regularly mocked up in the Daily Star as the titular clown:
Coco the clown is sitting me down
To explain the facts of life
God had no plan for why things began
But if things are nice, do the things twice
That's his advice
To explain the facts of life
God had no plan for why things began
But if things are nice, do the things twice
That's his advice
There are numerous collections and anthologies out there, bravely attempting to capture and summarise Momus' vast musical history. I will revisit Momus again, either here with a mocked-up mixtape or possibly as an Imaginary Compilation Album submission for The Vinyl Villain. The prospect is daunting either way. I mean, where do you start and how do you choose? My cop out today is to post links for the two new(ish) songs and three tracks from the Athenian album. Enjoy.
The Hydra
Every time thou seest thyself, thou doth begin to shimmer
Now that thou hath seen the hydra in the mirror
Look at that, one hundred heads gazing lovingly
At the hundred tiny heads smiling back at thee
The things that people say thou art, why not learn to love them?
The things that people mock thee for, wherefore try to shun them?
All the things that scare thee, thou might as well face them
They defeat you in the end, but you’re defeated by a friend
Why struggle to improvе thyself in this dreadful weathеr
Why not learn to love thyself, wouldn't that be better?
And if thou hatest hydras, read 'em my lord and weep
If it's wrong to be a hydra, thou rob’st me not of sleep
The hydra is thyself, fool, might as well face it
Why struggle with thy fate, fool, when thou can simply taste it?
Thou may’st chop off a single head spewing from thy neck
Thou know’st full well a double head will surely grow back
The true secret of happiness is loving what thou art
Thou art hot and horrible, that needs must be a start
We still discuss the hydra though a thousand years have passed
She really has achieved the kind of fame that lasts
Now that thou hath seen the hydra in the mirror
Look at that, one hundred heads gazing lovingly
At the hundred tiny heads smiling back at thee
The things that people say thou art, why not learn to love them?
The things that people mock thee for, wherefore try to shun them?
All the things that scare thee, thou might as well face them
They defeat you in the end, but you’re defeated by a friend
Why struggle to improvе thyself in this dreadful weathеr
Why not learn to love thyself, wouldn't that be better?
And if thou hatest hydras, read 'em my lord and weep
If it's wrong to be a hydra, thou rob’st me not of sleep
The hydra is thyself, fool, might as well face it
Why struggle with thy fate, fool, when thou can simply taste it?
Thou may’st chop off a single head spewing from thy neck
Thou know’st full well a double head will surely grow back
The true secret of happiness is loving what thou art
Thou art hot and horrible, that needs must be a start
We still discuss the hydra though a thousand years have passed
She really has achieved the kind of fame that lasts
Why struggle to improve thyself in this dreadful weather
Why not learn to love thyself, wouldn't that be clever?
And if thou hatest hydras, read 'em my lord and weep
If it's wrong to be a hydra, thou rob’st me not of sleep
Why not learn to love thyself, wouldn't that be clever?
And if thou hatest hydras, read 'em my lord and weep
If it's wrong to be a hydra, thou rob’st me not of sleep
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