Second Layer

Courts Or Wars

1972

Adrian Borland and Graham Bailey might be better known as members of legendary post-punk group The Sound, but the two were childhood friends and had been playing together even earlier in The Outsiders, and continued their deep musical rapport as a duo, creating these intense and engaging songs as Second Layer at the same time as their higher profile band output. Combining their early recordings, including the 1979 Flesh As Property EP and 1980 State Of Emergency EP, Courts Or Wars takes its title from the first song that served as the pair’s introduction to listeners. Right from the beginning you are enveloped in what The Quietus described as, “a monochrome worldview morbidly obsessed with the dehumanizing effect of war, nuclear weapon annihilation, and the fracturing and negation of the self within an increasingly distorted and technologically mediated society.” Where The Sound fit snugly next to Echo And The Bunnymen, Second Layer had far more in common with the pulsing menace of Suicide. Borland’s familiar vocals and sense of melody hold a connection to his other songwriting, but within these songs he takes far more risks in his guitar work to suit the subject matter. What really drives everything is Bailey’s propulsive bedrock, formed by his homemade pre-drum machine rhythm generators, creating an innovative mechanical approach that somehow inserts a jittery neurotic touch that merges perfectly with his electronic layers driven by the wasp synth, various unique effects boxes or tape loops. Adding in Bailey’s own distinctive bass playing, the...

Second Layer

World Of Rubber

Dark Entries

***BACK IN STOCK!!!  SECOND LAYER was a side project of ADRIAN BORLAND and GRAHAM BAILEY, members of post punk band THE SOUND. The project was born from early punk band THE OUTSIDERS, which had both Graham and Adrian as members. Second Layer featured the voice and guitars of Adrian mixed with the bass and pioneering electronics of Graham. The music was bleak, detached, and desolate, but very beautiful. Honest songwriting and a harsh sonic backdrop set them apart from their peers. The band’s first two singles were released by Tortch label. The first was Flesh As Property EP in 1979 and the second State Of Emergency EP in 1980. By 1981 Second Layer had found a home on London-based label Cherry Red and released their debut album World of Rubber in November of that year. Full of hard mechanical sounds produced by Adrian’s guitars and Graham’s homemade drum machines, the album actively engages the listener. Songs are manic and twisted, pervaded with haunting subterranean atmospheres. Adrian’s anguished voice tackles lyrics that are politically charged and morbidly fixated. Metallic guitar riffs, moody basslines, and Wasp synthesizer beeps are set to the band’s cache of processed tape loops. They are a homegrown electronic garage band that sit alongside their contemporaries Joy Division, Cabaret Voltaire and Public Image Limited. This deluxe 2xLP edition features the complete recorded output of Second Layer plus 5 unreleased demos from 1978-80. All songs have been remastered for vinyl by George Horn at Fantasy...