The Residents — Intruders
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.