It was some time on September 19th when stealing a glance [all I can muster lately] at the trouser Press Forum that I was alerted to the fact that there was a “new” Figures On A Beach single available for the first time in decades on Bandcamp. I went there immediately and bought the single as a download. We have a Pro-FOAB policy here at PPM following years of undue indifference. We like their unashamedly New Wave take on Pop Rock of a definite Duran slant.

In the time of this blog, we’ve gone about purchasing FOAB releases for the Record Cell and this new single was no different…except that being a DL, I didn’t have to find the money for a mail order buy like I normally do with this band. It was immediate gratification. And immediate gratification was where the band’s head was at when they recorded this in 1991.

Their time on Sire Records had come and gone by 1991, and their page on Bandcamp has singer Anthony Kaczynski setting the stage with the band unsure of how to fit into an increasingly Grungy landscape where Dance Rock with guitars and synths was seen as yesterday’s news. The band recorded four demos to shop to different labels but came up empty handed and went with the option of disbanding.

Kacyzinski was driving to The Cat’s Cradle in Carrboro, North Carolina earlier this year when he played the demo of “Play” to his friend Garret Vandermolen. Vandermolen ran a label called The Sound Cove and thought that “Play” needed to reach more ears, so after restoring the master tape and remastering the song, it got released on September 19th. I bought it the next day and was so preoccupied with life events coming fast and furious that I didn’t remember I had it until last weekend! Let’s all listen and report back with our findings!

Figures On A Beach: Play – US – DL [2025]

1. Play 4:04

Rik Rolski’s aggressive bass throb keeping time like a synth loop was the first thing out of the gate. Sharp, clean guitar chords with almost no sustain, mixed primarily to the left channel made a perky foundation for Kaczynski to glide into the song and unleash his vocal. Chris Ewen’s tremolo, monosynth keys adding counterpoint to the guitars in a playful fashion. After the first verse, the kick drums upped the energy to take the rest of the song to a higher energy level that pulled Kaczynski along for the ride. The instrumental middle eight almost channeled Elvis Costello and The Attractions “Radio Radio” for a couple of bars before the climactic verse of the song takes it up to the next octave.

Then Mr. Ewen threw us a curve ball with a perpendicular, atonal synth solo for a few bars that I did not see coming before the big wrap up from Kaczynski. It’s a different sound than I am familiar with from the band as I still don’t have their sophomore album. A little punchier and quirkier than I was used to as the bend sought ways out from the mid-80s cul-de-sac that they had launched their major label career from. Kaczynski and Ewen are still bandmates today in Magnetic Fields and the latter also forms half of Stephin Merritt’s side gig band Future Bible Heroes. But hearing this makes me wonder what would happen if Figures On A Beach would attempt to reform and make music nearly 40 years later. Dare they? At the least Kaczynski hints that the rest of that 1991 demo may be forthcoming. In the interim, we can listen to a song rescued from the tape locker and the mists of time. DJ hit that button!

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