Broadcast
Spell Blanket – Collected Demos 2006-2009
WARP
In 2009, I was blessed to catch a live performance from the cult Birmingham, UK band Broadcast. On October 23 of that year, at the beloved Montreal venue Le National, the duo of Trish Keenan and James Cargill performed songs from throughout their discography in a stripped-down live formation. Following Atlas Sound’s opening set, Broadcast projected trippy, vintage visuals on a massive screen behind them as Keenan’s tranquil voice filled the room. That show lives on as a vivid series of memories I’ll never forget, especially because Keenan tragically passed away from pneumonia only two years later at the age of 42 after contracting swine flu on Broadcast’s tour of Australia.
To this day, her untimely death still feels like a massive loss for the band’s many disciples, as well as to fans of experimental pop music writ large. Yet 13 years after Keenan’s passing, she continues to weave magic with Spell Blanket, the first of two archive-clearing demo collections set to be released by Warp this year compiling recordings from the project’s final years. I’ve made my way through all 36 songs in this collection of hazy, unfinished home demos several times now, and the experience is similar to seeing Broadcast live. Gorgeous tunes like “Follow the Light” and “Colour in the Numbers” turn Spell Blanket into a box of delicious Proustian madeleines waiting to be chomped into, causing the sense memories to come flooding back.
While many demos are limited to Keenan’s voice and a synth or guitar, she explores numerous sonic worlds within her lo-fi, homespun arrangements. Arriving fairly early in the album’s sequencing, “Roses Red” feels like the first song that came close to becoming a full-band indie-rock jam. “March of the Fleas” hints at a possible future direction of Grouper-esque noise-pop, while the moody groove of “Running Back to Me” sounds like nothing else Broadcast had attempted before. “The Games You Play” is a vocal version of the previously released “DDL,” a This-Heat-lite instrumental that’s cropped up in several other rarities collections. The lovely “Petal Alphabet” has also seen the light of day, but it’s always wonderful to have that one included anywhere.
I’m not the kind of Broadcast fan who can tell you exactly where every song first appeared, or in what iteration. I’m a vibes-based listener more than a facts-based one, even though tracking down the deepest cuts from their catalogue across singles, compilations, and the Austin Powers soundtrack will always be a fun treasure hunt. Over a decade since we lost Keenan, these demo collections are a generous gift for fans like me, still savoring every second of her music that we get to hear. Listening to Broadcast’s demos feels like opening the door into an alternate reality. As always, Keenan’s songs sound nostalgic, but they can’t be pinned to a specific time or place. With her singular voice singing me pastoral psychedelic lullabies, it’s tempting to tuck myself into Spell Blanket and keep dreaming.
