Alas the Madonna Does Not Function (EP)＜Picture Vinyl＞

This mini-LP offers a shorter Nurse With Wound track on the 45 rpm Side A and a much longer one on the 33 rpm side B. The first track, "Nil By Mouth," begins with noisy bursts of percussion interspersed with much quieter interludes with creaking guitars and other noises. The piece builds with intensity until a much heavier guitar finally rips loose and the pounding percussion becomes continuous, as deconstructed rock music becomes reconstructed again into one of N.W.W.'s more charged and energetic moments. The 20-minute piece on the flip side, "Swansong," is far subtler. It begins with quiet washes of white-noise static that rise and fall like ocean waves, very smooth and gentle at first but gradually becoming more forceful and complex. Soon a flute works its way into the mix, while the washes of white noise become choppier. About two-thirds of the way into the piece the waves stop abruptly and after a brief section where the flute's tone rises, a small child's voice intones a short, weird poem while a woman chants in the background, followed very quickly by a jarring wall of very harsh, aggressive static that slowly dies into a rumble to conclude the piece. "Swansong" is one of Nurse With Wound's more challenging works, but also one of the most effective. These two tracks have since been separated on CDs, with "Nil By Mouth" appearing on the Sugar Fish Drink collection, whereas "Swansong" is one of the three tracks on the CD A Missing Sense. ~ Rolf Semprebon