Normil Hawaiians: What's Going On? | 4ZZZ Brisbane 102.1FM

- In 2015, the Upset! The Rhythm record label released the third album from radical '80s British post-punk outfit Normil Hawaiians. It was recorded in 1985 but never officially released until three decades later. This was followed up last year by the well-deserved re-release of the band’s debut album More Wealth Than Money in yet another testament to what a wonderful tool the internet has become to unearth almost entirely forgotten gems of the past. Now the label has completed the collection with the re-release the remaining Normil Hawaiians album, 1984’s What’s Going On.

If More Wealth Than Money is best described as the soundtrack to a desolate, cold winter in a political and industrial dystopia, then, sonically, What’s Going On is like a continuation of that, gone nuclear. The band was just as nihilistic and intensely political as some of their post-punk contemporaries, but separated themselves from their peers with their raw, experimental and lo-fi sound.

The term ‘Orwellian’ gets thrown around a lot these days, but it’s hard to avoid such a description when we’re referring to an album that came out in 1984 and features tracks titles like Ignorance Is Strength. And when you consider the social backdrop of '80's Britain, it’s easy to see why Orwell appeared to resonate with the band. The aforementioned Ignorance is Strength also serves as a strong entry point to the style of the group: heavy improv, sonically bleak, and mostly structureless. The track Martin is one of the band’s more conventional tracks, but also one of their best. More bitingly personal than their usual social commentary, the track is a tribute to a close friend that had taken his life the year prior. The guitar line channels the band’s anxiety and is complemented by ominous pipes and the consistent tapping of claves, all of which builds to climactic, wailing guitars in a stunning emotional release.

The two epic closing tracks in Market Place and Free Tibet encompass almost half the length of the album. While highly unique, they're also archetypal of the longer Normil Hawaiian cuts: messy, experimental and glorious collages of ideas, seemingly pieced together through various jam sessions. With quirky vocals ranging from desperate screams to throat singing, sudden sample interludes, erratic wind sections, and aberrant guitar riffs, it’s some of the least accessible post-punk that you will hear, but quite captivating to get lost in.

With the Normil Hawaiians collection now complete and easily available on the Upset! The Rhythm label, it must be said that the band’s music still feels entirely at home in the contemporary political climate. In the '80s, against the backdrop of the Cold War and Thatcher regime, Normil Hawaiians weren’t predicting a political dystopia, but rather living in one, and escape was paramount. One of the key features with great art is that it remains painfully, obstinately relevant. Alas, as the saying goes, ‘‘the more things change, the more they stay the same.” Here we are facing many of the same anxieties three decades on; but at least the music's good.

- Jack Jones.