Rearranged Face
Following up the lead single “120 Dogs” off the just released album Arcane Free Drag from Mock Records—LA’s Rearranged Face keeps the no wave spirit in full form with the premiere of “Picture in Duke”. Still riding high on the heels of 2017’s A Refaced Ranger—the SoCal group remains true to their punk rock roots & keeps their art neat, complete & succinct in execution & form.
“Picture in Duke” is an ode to falling in love with the moment found in memory elicited by a photograph. Rearranged Face applies a very pointed & proper rhythmic core that keeps the entire vibe caffeinated & anxious with attitude. With a sci-fi approach to our absurd modern times, the group invests energies centered around the allure of the image that offers respite & a heartfelt reckoning with the valued investment we place upon our own reflections. The jittery core of the track keeps the entire mood jumping & hopping about with the feeling one gets when drinking two energy beverages back-to-back [which we do not recommend doing, by the way. -ed] with a message of holding tight to crystallized nostalgia as escapism in the face of current, ongoing events. It’s a song that provides a sense of pause that does a deep dive into our infatuation with the reminiscent mechanisms of introspection that feels like pushing both the rewind & fast-forward buttons on the cassette deck all at the same time. Rearranged Face’s Chapman Oswald provided the following introduction to the image obsessive anthem “Picture in Duke”:
What happened to the great auk, the Tasmanian tiger, and the passenger pigeon, will surely happen to us. One day soon, we are going the way of the dodo. When we finally lift the veil, we’ll see scaled hands pulling the puppet strings of those we’ve entrusted to protect us. The reptilians hiding among us will strike. Eh tu, Brutus? we will ask our neighbors and family as they take off their masks and show their true cold blooded face.
The few of us that survive the initial onslaught will be forced into hiding. The Resistance will be weak; we will cry ourselves to sleep. The light at the end of our tunnel will be a nuclear flash. Yet somehow, some of us will keep going, trudging along, for what choice do we have? The present is a nightmare and our future bleak. We will cling to dreams of the past, the halcyon days we were too ignorant to appreciate. We’ll look at tattered pictures of strangers and in our brief moments of respite, we’ll imagine ourselves in these photographs, in the idyllic memories of yesteryear, losing ourselves in brief fantasies as we wait for the next shoe to drop.
-Chapman Oswald
Rearranged Face’s Arcane Free Drag will be available April 20 on cassette via Mock Records.
Catch Rearranged Face playing April 21 in Los Angeles at The Hi Hat with Hooveriii & Golden Grease.
