The Residents - Intruders [Cherry Red/ MVD Audio - 2018]Intruders finds The Residents severing up a selection decidedly moody, at-times unsettling & down-right creepy tracks based around often unseen & undefined spirits, entities, or sinister interlopers. Each of the eleven tracks tells their own separate tale, and each utilizes the collective’s tendencies to mold, blend or shape musical genres into their own distinctively unbalanced & often theatrical odd stylings. The release comes in a few different variants- a Die Hard Edition vinyl edition of 111 copies, an unlimited vinyl or deluxe book & CD package- and this last one is the version I’m reviewing. This version of the album comes in the form of a CD-sized hardback booklet- it features a 32-page color booklet, featuring lyrics & explanations to all eleven songs- you also get an introduction, and a selection of often unsettling photo collage pictures of months with bizarre & grotesque face-in, each relating to a certain song. The outside cover features a rather tripped-out zebra-like pattern overlaid with pink hazed balky 80’s front. All told it’s a nicely looking release, which sits nicely along with the other mini hardback released Residents albums.
On the whole, I’d say Intruders is one of the more theatrical, wordy & less formal songs based releases from The Residents. And for the most part the songs pace move between slow & dramatic, and mid-paced & showy- as you'd expect for this type of Residents album- we get a fair amount of spoken/acted word elements from Randy/ Mr. Skull/Tyrone/the singing Resident- but on a few tracks we do also get the addition of a female vocalist, both singing back & as a lead. Fitting the albums often internal/ inside ones head theme, at times the tracks move towards more psycho ambient/ creepy film scoring- though for the most part things remain fairly structured with Noland Cooks familiar guitar elements often pushing the songs forward
Of the eleven tracks I’d say I found most of them satisfying- both in their quirky musical blending, storyline & performances- a few of the albums later tracks did feel like the project on auto-pilot, but thankfully these were still effective enough, and worked with-in the albums make-up. Of the tracks that stood out the most to me, and that I’ve replayed again separately I’d say the following come to mind- “The Scarecrow”- which switches between choppy guitar texturing, campy preset 80’s horn pads hits, and clip-clopping electro beats. To dirge horn & swirling work, clunky & creepy piano hits stretched vocals, and crow call samples. The marching drum & wavering eerier elector pipe organ churn & build of “The Other”- which later features some great waltzing & creepy fairground/ carnival synth string & orchestration, building around the singing Residents dramatic & darkly theatrical vocals. Or “Good Vibes” which is anything but, being one of the more chilling moments here- as ,Randy, dictates an unsettling tale about a doppelganger whose keeps standing outside his house, and as the stories teller starts to lose weight so does the doppelganger- the tales all sound-tracked by dark electronica beats, weird snoring synth chops, and Cooks atmospheric guitar-scaping.
On the whole Intruders is a worthy addition to The Resident’s discography, and if pushed other albums by the collective I’d compare it to say the 2006 album Tweedles, with maybe a slightly more horror edged feel- so if you enjoyed that album you have a great time with this. I’m not sure if it’s an album for those who’ve never heard any of The Residents work- as it’s a tad uneven in places, and the less song like structure maybe throw you. But certainly if you’re a long time Rez-head, I think you’ll be satisfied with what we have here, and as an album, it really primed perfect for Halloween & this creepy time of year. Roger Batty
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