The Light and the Dark

The Light and the Dark

PJ Elliott

The Light and the Dark is wholly the product of one man: the vocals, the instruments and the mixing are all the brainchild of one P J Elliott, from Hove. There are 8 tracks in all and the cassette on which they can be listened to was given the title because to begin with it is indeed quite sunny in theme, only to become far more sombre in tone.

This is a little treat for those who never got enough of Joy Division - if you liked the more recent Ikon too, you would probably enjoy listening to this, though it has to be said the mixing is avowedly budget.

It is perhaps a little more mellow all in all than Division, maybe more reflective and sedate. 'On the Beach' begins carefree and boppy, celebrating life beside the sea, though the vocals are wholly and suitably in keeping with the instrumentation: a slight edge of snarling nastiness throughout, so that there is no danger of these songs sounding bland. The Dreamer's Mind, which follows at a more measured tempo, has a somewhat Alice in Wonderland theme accordig to the lyrics - who is dreaming whom?

The next two tracks, Come on People and Wake Up World, are delivered with a somewhat militant energy and an enjoinder not to accept the status quo of mind-numbing work for work's sake. Ian Curtis with a little help from John Lennon, perhaps.

Then we have Turn of the Page, which has an almost bluesy meditativeness about it, building up more intensity through some clever guitarwork. In Hide from Light, however, the Joy Division influence is even more marked in a medium-tempoed song. This is perhaps even more marked in the penultimate track here Guitar Man, where the rhythm intensifies and the vocals are delivered with even more of a nasal edge. Heading further still more into Joy Division-style bleakness, the last track, Renegade, as a ditty about a mummy's soldier boy who is never the same again after he returns from war.

This is a collection of compositions where maximum attention has been paid to detail throughout - P J Elliott is a perfectionist, and it is an approach that pays dividends - it adds more richness to the atmosphere. It is to be hoped that we can expect more in the future from this particular stretch of the beach.