Having already taken the recent Dance To The Radio compilation by storm as well as blowing W&H away with their station master-tastic live shows, Leeds' finest loco-obsessive weirdos really turn the emotional screw with the release of this phenomenal two-part Double A-side single.
Make no mistake, "BeforeTheCurtainsClose" is/ are devasting before and after murder ballads of supreme quality. "Pt.1" is ominous as hell as soon as that distant timpani ushers it in with help from Ash's distant cornet fugue. As the band slide in behind, it soon slips into deadly focus as singer Dave makes like Neil Hannon's "Exorcist"-obsessed younger brother and relates a lust-fuelled, obsessive tale ("And now he's getting you undressed, I close my eyes...") that's even more voyeuristic than the criminally under-rated "Light In Her Window" by The Golden Virgins. Indeed, however intense that song is, it's a teddy bear's picnic by comparison to this. As the music's galcial tide ebbs and swells, Dave goes on to sing "I'll extract his teeth and put them into a necklace for you". Bloody Nora. There's only one likely end to this bleak, black story and the band build a cauterising crescendo to rival the lyric perfectly.
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Death is not the end, though, as "Pt.2" suggests. This one is clearly a 'post-incident' epilogue and begins with a spookily calm Dave announcing "I discharged myself today". That alone is enough to have the goose pimples rising, but merely the first blow in a postscript that's almost beyond obsessive and as intense a variation on a theme as you could possibly wish for. By the time the emotional bloodbath finally abates, you're struggling to comprehend how skilful and seductive iLikETRAINS are and how they can incorporate so much fire, gravitas and seething psychosis into what amounts to ten of this year's most crucial minutes.
iLikETRAINS are really quite a find. They've laid the sleepers and are rapidly constructing their own branch line to spectacular success. All aboard!
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