Virgin Prunes
...If I Die, I Die

THE REVIEW

Formed in the multimedia commune of "Lypton Village" (one of the most important artistic and cultural circles in Dublin), the Virgin Prunes represented a unique adventure within the British dark-wave scene of the early '80s. Their style was born from the need to represent the primitive component of man, far from dehumanizing progress, instead aimed at recovering the panic sense, the pure and uncontaminated contact between man and nature. Their songs were apocalyptic rituals, searching for man's beastiality as the "primary" component. The lyrics expressed a pagan sentiment, an obsessive will to "return to origins," lost due to the unstoppable process of "civilization." For the few uncontaminated, there is no escape anymore (Virgin Prunes stands for Forsaken Virgins). Art, music in this case, thus becomes a way to claim a space, to shout to the world its error.

The record in question is their first LP. Dated 1982, it represents the unsurpassed peak of their music. The instrumental "Ulakanakulot" welcomes us into their heretical ritual, an unpronounceable title that seems like the magic word of an ancient sorcerer. Tribal percussions serve as the backdrop to an arcane chant, made powerful by a threatening bass in the foreground... without realizing it, we sink into the following "Decline And Fall," where Gavin Friday's sorcerous voice takes center stage, a voice that invites us to "take our dreams and fly away," to distance ourselves from this life built around us. "Sweethome Under White Clouds," with its hypnotic rhythm and theatrical singing, pushes us even deeper along these rivers of suggestion, a prelude to the masterpiece of the album, the terrifying nightmare of "Bau-Dachong," a macabre ballet full of distant oneiric reverberations, sharp guitars dripping blood, sinister dissonances. A genuine jewel of all dark music.
"Pagan Lovesong" develops on a frenzied rhythm, with Friday's "Glam" declamation always in the foreground.

The second part of the album is slightly inferior in craftsmanship compared to the first, yet it remains at a good level. The concluding "Yeo" bids us farewell with an unfinished, indefinable melody, the splash of a trickle of water wets the chords of a nocturnal piano, all suffocated by the concluding demonic voice, which seems to come from the depths... the depths of her majesty death. After all "...If I Die, I Die".