Mission of Burma
Signals, Calls and Marches

THE REVIEW

Tear Down to Build Up. 

This is the musical philosophy that Mission Of Burma intended to embrace from the very beginning of their career, that is, to abolish conventional structures, sounds, and lyrics. This somewhat summarizes the intentions of the post-punk and no-wave currents: to refound punk, indeed, and Mission Of Burma did so by ferrying the experimental advancements made by the exponents of the New York no-wave into a pop that sometimes borders on the mainstream. Avant-garde music, therefore, that could easily be listened to on the radio. Put in these terms, it might seem like a contradiction, a paradox, but this is precisely the essence of the Mission's music: hardcore-pop that gradually allows itself to be tainted by distortions, tribalism, screams. An evocative and alienating noise rock.

"Signals, Calls And Marches" (Ace Of Hearts, 1981) is a seminal EP, which potentially contains all the characteristic aspects of indie rock bands of the '80s and '90s of the caliber of Sonic Youth (first and foremost), Nirvana, R.E.M., Pixies, Fugazi. "That's When I Reach For My Revolver", as the opening track, is quite a simple piece, relying entirely on the melody and Clint Conley's bass, who we also find here as a songwriter. Ultimately, it sounds like listening to a Wipers song sung by the Buzzcocks, yet so damn current. The rest of the EP won't have the same immediacy as the opener, but it exudes genius and innovation. "Outlaw" can be considered, in my opinion, the absolute masterpiece of the record: based on contrasts, that is the mumbles alternate with screams, precise rhythms, and tribalism. The lyrics are incomprehensible, the bass begins to dissociate from the rest, recreating a surreal atmosphere, evoking Pere Ubu and no-wave, indeed. "This Is Not A Photograph" is instead a psychotic-psychedelic hardcore to which Hüsker Dü of "Zen Arcade" will resort: fleeting, shouted, convulsive. The title, according to leader Robert Miller, was inspired by the famous surrealist painting by Renè Magritte "This Is Not A Pipe", making it easy to compare the visual surrealism of the painting to the peculiar lyrical surrealism of Miller's songs. The other pinnacle of the record is "Red", a perfect combination of noise and melody, an apocalyptic punk that culminates in a moving and emotional chorus, and in Conley's discursive bass lines. If "Red" concretely demonstrates how Mission Of Burma taught to play hardcore without losing sight of the melodic component, the instrumental "All World Cowboy Romance" seems to decidedly foreshadow, with a good seven years in advance, the sound of Sonic Youth's "Daydream Nation", with the two guitars brought to the foreground (for the most part of the track, Conley plays the guitar). The freshness of a track like "Academy Fight Song" is astonishing, which could easily be a hit single of any indie rock band today. Conley's melodies indeed impart a radio-friendly air to the piece, which did not achieve particular success at the time but managed to define the coordinates of the American college rock played by R.E.M., Lemonheads, and Soul Asylum.

The aspect that distinguishes Conley's tracks from Miller's is the sunlit, pop warmth with which they envelop the listener. Miller's tracks are instead pessimistic, melancholic, paranoid, as they are strongly inspired by the surrealist-Dadaist movement, which indeed promoted the philosophy of tearing down and building up.

"Signals, Calls And Marches" is prophetic right from the title; the «signal» of what rock would be like in the years to come. Mission Of Burma could have been conceived and ceased with this record and still be essential and highly influential, but no. "Signals, Calls And Marches" will only prove to be the prelude to what will be the band's true masterpiece, the even more anguished "Vs.".