THE SONGS
1 INTRUDER
The album kicks off with that thunderous Phil Collins beat, which shares more than a little DNA with NWA and early hip-hop. Then the sonic palette is split right open with a frenetic, skittish percussive marimba sound. What follows is a creepy, skincrawling track that pre-empts Lullaby by The Cure in its eerie, whispered vocal that later strains like an animal in pain. Gabriel plays the role of the intruder, creeping across those creaky floorboards at night. The production is close and claustrophobic, as a plectrum scrapes across muted guitar strings in scratchy dissonance. The angular verse resolves into a more melodic chorus refrain, while the tumbleweed whistling part at the end sounds like a country and western film soundtrack. It’s seriously weird and unsettling, though strangely addictive. Today, they’d call it ASMR.
2 NO SELF CONTROL
The second single on the record, released just before the album came out. A moody, abrasive proto-industrial riff that could be a synth or guitar is joined by a frantic rhythmic marimba part, and furious tribal drum rolls on the toms. It’s enhanced with sampled, stuttering layered vocal harmony sounds that wouldn’t seem amiss on a Balearic club banger. After the false-start, restrained voice of Intruder, Gabriel bursts in with his rich and instantly recognisable signature vocals that could cut through concrete. Again, Collins provides thunderous drumming. There’s a feeling of rising tension throughout that’s never really resolved – the vertigo-inducing chord progression invokes the ‘Shepard scale’, an uneasy feeling of perpetual motion and ascension. It’s emphasised by the chant of “No self-control!” over the broken chords, leaving a menacing and unsettling feel. Kate Bush on backing vocals repeats the line in a shrill echo. It gets rather proggy with the vocals and guitar stabs, but in a cool art-rock way.