Stereo, Glasgow, July 27th 2008
When Nick Currie named himself after the Greek god of mockery, being clever, like ridicule, was nothing to be scared of. Edinburgh-based Currie had already fronted The Happy Family, a band that featured half of his schoolboy idols, Josef K, and was developing an archly literate and occasionally sex-obsessed lyrical style that would co-exist with the likes of the Divine Comedy and Jarvis Cocker.
Three albums were released on Alan McGee’s fledgling Creation label before Currie fled for New York, Tokyo and now Berlin. Having continued to pursue his singular vision, a homecoming date of sorts showcases material currently being recorded for a new album with electro-blip avatar Germlin confirms the exiled Currie as every aesthete’s bon viveur of choice.
Not for nothing does Currie pen a weekly column for the New York Times. Then there’s ‘The Book of Scotlands’, “a numbered list of one thousand parallel world Scotlands. Here are three: The Scotland in which all food is soup. The Scotland in which nobody has any teeth. The Scotland which African missionaries have converted to shamanic animism.”
With what Currie calls the Joemus album scheduled for an autumn release, Momus’ concerns remain as waggish as ever, featuring songs about “vampires who've lost the taste for biting girls, men who become pantomime dames in order not to lose their girlfriends, people who marry indiscriminately, and witnesses who play mouth organs in court.”
Beyond this, Currie’s ambitions remain equally lofty.
“Eventually,” he says, “I'll probably retire to Stromness and write sonnets.”
The List, July 2008
ends
When Nick Currie named himself after the Greek god of mockery, being clever, like ridicule, was nothing to be scared of. Edinburgh-based Currie had already fronted The Happy Family, a band that featured half of his schoolboy idols, Josef K, and was developing an archly literate and occasionally sex-obsessed lyrical style that would co-exist with the likes of the Divine Comedy and Jarvis Cocker.
Three albums were released on Alan McGee’s fledgling Creation label before Currie fled for New York, Tokyo and now Berlin. Having continued to pursue his singular vision, a homecoming date of sorts showcases material currently being recorded for a new album with electro-blip avatar Germlin confirms the exiled Currie as every aesthete’s bon viveur of choice.
Not for nothing does Currie pen a weekly column for the New York Times. Then there’s ‘The Book of Scotlands’, “a numbered list of one thousand parallel world Scotlands. Here are three: The Scotland in which all food is soup. The Scotland in which nobody has any teeth. The Scotland which African missionaries have converted to shamanic animism.”
With what Currie calls the Joemus album scheduled for an autumn release, Momus’ concerns remain as waggish as ever, featuring songs about “vampires who've lost the taste for biting girls, men who become pantomime dames in order not to lose their girlfriends, people who marry indiscriminately, and witnesses who play mouth organs in court.”
Beyond this, Currie’s ambitions remain equally lofty.
“Eventually,” he says, “I'll probably retire to Stromness and write sonnets.”
The List, July 2008
ends
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