The Comedy of Errors: Bark Psychosis - Blood Rush (8 May 1992)

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They wouldn’t have known at the time they wrote it of course, what with 1992 being the end of history but the two lyrical phrases that make up Blood Rush (“Say it again/our world is falling” and “You never stop/you never learn”*) seem horribly relevant and prescient in 2018.  It took me by surprise actually, especially given that what would have made the track stand out had I heard it when originally broadcast would be, exclusively, the dreamy atmospherics, exquisitely beautiful guitar work, lightly brushed drums and the way in which Bark Psychosis manage to mix in a squeaky chair in time with the “You never stop” line, every time it is repeated.  In tracks like this, lyrics are an adornment - a bow tied atop the package of this track’s sonic delights - to be thrown aside while luxuriating in the sonic goodies that Bark Psychosis serve up.  And there is plenty to enjoy here.  The first 4 minutes 20 seconds could best be termed the soft half of the track - murmuring and gentle.  Bark Psychosis used to record regularly in a church  and there’s definitely a sense of the state service to the opening exchanges but the tempo change at 4:20 really feels as though the blood is circulating freely - bringing the listener out of the gentle torpor and sounding like every body part beginning to work in harmony again.  Blood going to the brain and stimulating thought, vision, movement and wonder - but all playing out to gentle, repeated admonishment of the human race.  It’s an odd dichotomy, albeit one that Bark Psychosis always sought in their music, but it gels splendidly.

Peel played it as the final track of the evening on the 8/5/92 show and it is a perfect show closer.  It came from the group’s Manman EP and he found himself guessing the track’s title due to the childlike writing on the cover art.

*Lyrics copyright of Bark Psychosis (Third Stone Records)
Video courtesy of sunnyman1999