Meet Me By The Viaduct/Corporationpop (Odd Box Records)
Corporationpop
is the project of Elise Hadgraft – who late last year began to combine her
poetry with sparse but accessible electro backing tracks. “Meet Me By The Viaduct” is her debut EP –
four tracks recounting the trials of decaying relationships, a troubled and
confused teenage past, and a cynical overview of the “progress” of her
hometown.
“Seven Miles
South” commences with the tagline – “Welcome To Stockport”. It is here that my
imagined notion of the Stockport Tourist Bureau adopting this for their next
advertising campaign immediately flounders. A resigned, caustic analysis of a
suburban town treading the steady contemporary path of wastefully managed council
resources and the ongoing, all-encompassing stranglehold of gentrification.
Just to redress this balance a little, I loved the place on my ONE visit there
recently – but like everywhere else – residents undoubtedly find more to
criticise than occasional tourists – wherever they live.
“Ted Hughes”
– would Sylvia Plath have survived and
become stronger and independent on the modern age – the narrator of this track
darkly wonders in the kitchen that is now “electric”. The chorus comparing the
boyfriend to the late ‘Mr Plath’ and former poet laureate is far from
complimentary.
“Blood On
The Bedroom Curtains” tells of the 16 year old – the “songwriter’s composite
fantasy” influenced by “lyrics middle aged musicians taught you to believe” –
once again succumbing to self-harm and the inevitable knock-on effect to her
nearest and dearest.
“Bleach” –
wickedly astute observations of a love now doomed to failure – “He’s cutting
out postcards of the girls with the Hindley haircuts” – “Your patience wearing
thin with a jumped up fucking hasbeen with a Jarvis Cocker jacket but with
Jeremy Clarkson jeans”.
Elise
recites these vignettes of bleak despair in a calm, detached – almost offhand
manner – conversely increasing the emotional resonance in each track. The EP is available on download, limited CD
and cassette from Odd Box Records’ bandcamp site. An excellent debut – and a
promising future for Corporationpop.
Lee McFadden
2/4/18
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