The Triffids – Treeless Plain

• 16th Apr 2008

The Triffids morphed out of Australia in 1978, when Britain was embroiled in the back end of Punk and New Wave was set to descend upon our green and pleasant land.

The Triffids were a five piece with the main songwriting and centre piece of the band being the late Dave McComb. McComb suffered a great deal of ill health as a result of drink and drugs whilst also suffering from a heart condition as a result of his excessive drinking. He sadly passed away in 1999 but his legacy continues to be recognised by the re-release of ‘treeless plain’ – their debut album from 1983.

‘Treeless Plain’ has been remixed by the original engineer Nick Mainsbridge some 25 years on from it’s original release and re-issued through Domino.

Opening track ‘Red Pony’ is a clasp of beauty with church organs, a smattering of strings and Mccomb’s haunting vocals telling a story of love without stating the obvious connotations ‘Next to you my love, all colours turn to black’. ‘My baby thinks she’s a train’ has a haunting and sleazy bass driving right through the heart of it.

McComb’s Lyrics most definitely have an underlying story to them and really compliment the swampy feel to the song ‘She walks out the door & she’s drinking kisses like rain’

‘Rosevel’ tells the tale of the ending of a relationship but it’s almost sinister in it’s delivery ‘Please don’t drag me back to Rosevel, under your creaking bed’. No air no hatches under there, No pleasantries hatched overhead’. It gives me the creeps the way the song is so elegantly crafted round a line from the chorus ‘and i warned you i would have to cut off dead wood’

‘I am a lonesome Hobo’ could easily be lifted from a Kills or Editors album. It’s intensity and dark dank feel is gripping and is a mix of the blues and Mercury Rev’s ‘deserter songs’. The Triffids don’t do long drawn out solos and complicated lyrics, they can hit the spot directly in under 3 minutes with ‘Place in the sun’ and ‘Branded’. Mccomb definitely had a black heart and sometimes you feel a sense of loneliness in his writing. Although he seems to have a correlation with the late Ian Curtis the music of The Triffids ensures that the only link to his fellow 6ft under musician.

I can hear their influences throughout ‘treeless plain’(Talking Heads and Television’ ‘Marquee Moon’) and ‘ghostrider’ is very reminiscent of Mr D. Byrne’s work. Although I would say that they have probably influenced more bands and artists than they have taken influences from and this you have to give credit to(Lanegan & Dulli’s gutter twins project – take note!)

The gloomy feel throughout this album is uplifting (one for the oxymorons out there) but you have to wallow in the toxic joy and bitterness of McComb’s lyrics. This album is an absolute genius of a creation, it’s for those dark evenings when it’s you and no one else. Forget it if you’re thinking about playing this to entertain your friends.

Things of beauty don’t come along that often like this. This is why records were created so you can embrace and lavish in it’s grimness. Fantastic!