Bearing in mind they were a major influence on the likes of REM, Moby and Husker Du and left behind a small but magnificently formed recorded legacy (one full album,one EP and several singles) that's been kept alive by Rykodisc and Taang! for the past twenty years and you'd think MISSION OF BURMA wouldn't want to tarnish their immaculate 'post-punk prime movers' reputation by chancing their arm with a dreaded reformation album two decades on.
Brilliantly, though, "ONoffON" is a far greater addition to the Boston boys canon than any of us could dared have imagine. Not only does it cement their reputation as alt.rockers deserving to be mentioned in the same breath as the likes of Television, Wire and the Gang Of Four, but also stakes their claim as a dynamite contemporary outfit who've clearly taught the likes of Radio 4 a trick or two.
The fact that guitarist Roger Miller's worsening tinnitus problem led to Burma's initial untimely dissolution is clearly something the band still have to take care over (the inside sleeve features the band playing live with a huge plexiglass sleeve surrounding Peter Prescott's drums and Miller wearing marksman-style earmuffs), but you'd hardly know it from the frenetic, amped-up sounds emanating from "ONoffON."
Opening track "The Set Up" makes it abundantly clear Burma are hungrier than ever. Miller kicks off a Bob Mould-style riff, Prescott and bassist Clint Conley slide in frenetically and instantly we're heaved into Burma's urgent, militaristic world. You reviewer was initially disappointed that crucial fourth Burma member Martin Swope (tape loops and manipulations) seems to have retired, but Shellac's Bob Weston has stepped up from the bench and mixes in some superb, Swope-ian white noise and tape loops into the sonic hurricane that whistles through the centre of the track. The effect is little short of breathtaking.
Of course, Burma always had strength in depth with Conley and Prescott also submitting great songs and fine vocals. Here, they again turn in terrific tracks to augment Miller's vision. On "Hunt Again" and the nagging "What We Really Were", Conley's vocals are a nicely mellifluous alternative to Miller's intense voice and indeed the latter tune covets a poppy sensibility not dissimilar to REM or more recent Guided By Voices. By comparison, Prescott's urgent yell recalls Ian MacKaye and his song "The Enthusiast" features a dynamism similar to Fugazi and some fantastically metallic cheesewire guitar from Miller that Andy Gill would simply kill for.
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Elsewhere, Burma swerve between the future and the past with alarming dexterity. "Dirt" isn't a cover of The Stooges' song, but knowingly kicks off with a riff that's pure "Fun House" (reminding you Burma also covered "1970 (I Feel Alright)", while the superb, cauterising guitars and martial drums of "Into The Fire" and "Fever Moon" are vintage, darkness-addled Burma and "Playland" plugs right back into the band's initial incarnation; adopting a raging, staccato-discoid post-punk stance. It's stunning, in case you still had any lingering doubts.
At a separate tangent, the trio also sound convincing when they broaden their palette even further. "Prepared", for instance, is an intriguing departure: an expressive Clint Conley dirge supported by Miller's Peter Buck-ish guitar and a droning cello, while "Falling" finds the blanket chords swaddling submerged acoustic textures and a disembodied Tanya Donnelly adding vocal textures from low in the mix. Crucially, even when they get all epic and sprawling like on the chaotic headfuck of the closing "Absent Mind" they still manage to engage on all levels.
"ONoffON", then, showcases the remarkable second coming of one of post-punk's most vital and enduring strikeforces. The sound of a band taking up their own historical baton and running with it has rarely sounded so glorious or so right.
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