I had written about this album in 2021 when I discovered that it had been released but sometime things flow slowly around Monk Central. Nevertheless, when I sold some CDs the money garnered had me thinking about a few LPs that didn’t get a CD release yet were still desired in the Record Cell, from boutique label Minimal Wave. While I’d prefer CDs of the albums in question by Jyl and Vicious Pink, I still ordered them. I buy any releases by Vicious Pink and was interested in finding out why the “JYL” album sold for three figures.It’s best to act on these impulses before the reissue is selling for three figures as well!
Jyl: JYL – US – LP [2020]
- Mechanic Ballerina 3:27
- Universe 3:55
- Computer Love 3:55
- Positions 3:55
- Dance And Death 3:40
- The Computer Generation 4:09
- Animation 4:10
- Silicon Valley 4:06
- Electric Lady 3:45
- I’m A Machine 4:06
The quirky rhythms of “Mechanic Ballerina,” military snare tattoos punctuated by synthetic percussion, let us know that we were in the right place for a blend of Krautrock and New Wave. Jyl herself offered the duality of spoken work verses and a chorus that sounded ripped from a Kate Bush record. Leo Leonhardt added the guitar chops which added the pressure that the methodical rhythms assiduously avoided.
Pulsing bass shot through with synth glissandos in the intro to “Universe” while heraldic synth lead lines pointed to the provenance of Prog rock roots with keyboardist Ingo Werner. The icy reserve of the track insuring that it never rose above the level of a simmer. Leaving us vulnerable to the irresolute drive and urgency of “Computer Love.” The middle eight with Helene Vernant speaking in French added complex shading to this variation to the Kraftwerk song that built to a fabulous climax courtesy to the range of vocalist Jyl.
“Positions” featured a crystalline rhythm track not a million miles from “We Are The Robots,” albeit with a slower tempo. The subject of the song was a model as in Kraftwerk’s classic but this time the magazines she appeared in were sexual. Ultimately, the narrator of the song suggested a queer romance between themselves and the model. Offering sigifiers of a sophisticated, monied romance such as champagne and caviar.
The fleet-footed dance beats of “Dance And Death;” touched by fluttering, rhythmic eighth notes challenged listeners not respond to the slipstream it created to the dance floor. Frank Wolf’s stinging guitar leads and bass backing vocals added both high and low end for the propulsive track.
The entire “Computer Generation” track felt like it was subjected to varispeed tempo increase throughout. Not merely on the gimmicky vocals, but the entire music bed as well. Giving the track a cartoonish, pixilated vibe that sort of rubbed me the wrong way. With only the over the top Simmons drum fills passing muster in the end with me. Far better was the song “Animation” that followed. It also had a pixilated feel but with contrasting elements that balanced the track out more. Jyl’s vocal was not contrived here and I liked how she adopted various personae within the song. Her almost giddy vocal on parts of the performance had the feel of false cheer from advertising carried to the extreme.
The funky Electro of “Silicon Valley” was a welcome influx of syncopation to the album. The sequencer line bouncing though the song reminded me of The System’s “You Are In My System.” Always a good thing. The juxtaposition between that element and the heraldic synth lines worked like a fiend. And I swear that the “hwah-hwah-hwah-hwah” expression vocal hook in the song showed that the “JYL” album was a part of Sparks record collection. With it manifesting once more as the hook in Sparks brilliant “Ugly Guys And Beautiful Girls.” I’ve never heard the distinctive hook anywhere else.
This album was a fun glimpse into Europeans who normally made Art Rock exploring the Technopop space right when the analog technology was at its peak. There might be a PPG Wave Synth here but that might be the only digital synth in the mix. The mixture of drum machines and real, if treated, percussion worked like a charm for me. And the guitars and bass added their charms to the mix admirably.
And the Element X in the mix was Jyl herself, who inhabited the songs more like an actress than a singer. Not surprising given her background as a dancer and model. She had met up with co-writer Ingo Werner as a dancer in a project he was contributing to and then one thing led to another. Fortunately, this was carried through to finally reach our ears in the 21st century.
And more fortunately still, Jyl was possessed of a fine soprano voice that had no problems reaching Kate Kate Bush territory in those pre-Autotune days. Even so, she was more content to inhabit the songs as a character here, with her singing trading off with a sprechgesang approach. Between Jyl’s background and the chops that Producers Ingo Werner and Klaus Schulze brought to the project, this gave the “JYL” album the feel of a Grace Jones album of the period mashed up with the bird-of-a-feather that was Pater Baumann’s fun “Repeat, Repeat” album of the same period.
After enjoying this and diving for pearls in Discogs, my next step is to hope that Minimal Wave issue the two Angela Werner albums which feature the same cast of musicians here on LPs that also sell for a high cost in the aftetrmarket. Fortunately for anyone reading this, Minimal Wave have not sold this one out …yet. It’s yours for a modest $27.00 in their Bandcamp store along with a high-res download. The DL alone is $12.00. DJ hit that button!
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Post-Punk Monk 