Nurse With Wound – The Surveillance Lounge (Dirter) 2009
What am I exactly suppose to make of this? The Surveillance Lounge is essentially one sixty minute long track broken up into four parts developed as the soundtrack for a surrealist German film from the early half of the last century. Before I go out and buy a Nurse With Wound record I do my research. No two Nurse With Wound albums sound the same and unless you do a bit of reading you might get some processed field recordings, some dada surrealism, experimental noise or something as wonderfully accessible as their last proper album, Huffin’ Rag Blues.
Based on the research I had done I had decided last year not buy the Surveillance Lounge but I was still curious about it. Fast Forward to earlier this year I decided to take a punt. Eight plays later this record still has me baffled. The Surveillance Lounge is towards the more extreme, avant garde end of their sound. In fact it may be the most difficult Nurse With Wound record I’ve heard with elements of their earlier work distilled into a nightmarish landscape of surrealism. The Surveillance Lounge uses swathes of not-quite-silence to emphasis the dread and fear that any sensible listener will feel listening to this. There are moments of this that are truly terrifying and I warn you not to listen to this record when you are falling asleep lest you need an ambulance for the heart failure you’ll get when the screaming starts. This is not my favourite Nurse With Wound record because I think they have a greater song sensibility than what is on display here. It’s certainly not the place anyone would start with the band’s massive back catalogue. It is a thoroughly unlikable record in many ways but if you like listening to music in total darkness whilst clutching a pillow then the Surveillance Lounge is going to be your thing.
Ducks Battle Satan 
Leave a Reply