Guys and Dolls: Senser - Eject (1 May 1993)

 

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As much as I loved their session, I couldn’t leave Pitchshifter’s meditations on chemical warfare, the Devil and emotional distress as my pre-Christmas gift to you, especially not when there was this stunning debut single from Senser to bring you.

I appreciate that the first 80 seconds of Eject may leave you wondering where I’ve got the “stunning” adjective from. There’s nothing especially outstanding suggested by them, coming across as they do as by-the-numbers, smash-the-system rap-rock. Although, it does at least suggest that the monoliths of capitalism and whatever else is responsible for the conditioning which Heitham Al-Sayed mentions throughout the track are flimsier than they appear to be; a suggestion which subsequent history through financial crashes, a global pandemic and turbulent politics has shown to be true. Eject starts to hit its stride  at the point that Senser realise that they need something more striking to get their message across. As a result, they start to follow the Sex Sells mantra, and co-vocalist, Kerstin Haigh, enters the track with a set of positively carnal vocalisations which would definitely have broken the 17 year old me from my conditioning.

Haigh’s role is to carry the main chorus of the song:

Eject the program(me)

Eject the power.

Let the nature flow,

Let the colour flower.

Her presence seems to inspire Al-Sayed, who gets more specific in his targeting of some of the signifiers of our perceived cultural imprisonment. There’s a rhyme of Whopper with happy shopper (though not that one), which almost had me applauding when I first heard it.  The song ploughs on inexorably, and really takes off in its final 80 seconds as Haigh vocalises into the heavens, but manages to do so without sounding overbearing. The guitars soar underneath her, before Al-Sayed makes a sprint for the finish line with more impassioned railing against the cultural conformity he sees around him; a rap soaked version of Kevin McCarthy at the end of the original Invasion of the Bodysnatchers . At least, the final cymbal crash sounds like someone managing to eject the disc/cassette that’s been implanted into them.

This will be the last post before Christmas, so compliments of the season to all readers, video uploaders, Peel show uploaders and, of course, Webbie.

Video courtesy of Senser - Topic