The Wedding Present
Take Fountain (Manifesto)
by Ewan Wadharmi
Take Fountain is like running into an old childhood friend. You still recognize some features, but man have they changed! David Gedge started Cinerama as a departure from The Wedding Present‘s monumentally influential output. The Weddoes’ furious guitar scrubbing gave over to lush orchestration and smooth production. Gedge adopted a croon more akin to Scott Walker than the Ian Curtis drone over Morrissey lyrics. Take Fountain is far enough removed from both these projects to warrant a third moniker, or at least an explanation on the timeline of how The Wedding Present arrived at this point from the nervous energy of Saturnalia. Except for the digging bass line of “It’s For You” driving a spike of welcome contempt, this is a far more sedate and mature yet still jangly sound. While this is not what you’d expect from The Wedding Present, it’s an album by David Gedge, and a rose by any other name would smell as sweet. The guy simply cannot make a bad record. The gentle humor of “I’m Further North Than You” plays well against the warm strings of “Mars Sparkles Down On Me.” His breakup with Cinerama and real-life mate Sally Murrell provides the fodder for signature heartache songs “Always The Quiet One” and “Perfect Blue.” And the relocation to Seattle is apparent in the titles “Interstate 5” and “Seatac.”
Unlike the emo acts that cite The Wedding Present as an influence, Gedge’s honest lamentations are a therapeutic release rather than a suicide note. It’s a comforting thought that someone else understands pain as well and can express it as heartfelt, but with a punchline. “The night we walked into the sea, I guess that was okay/and when we bought that weird pornography, yeah that was a good thing/ we were the same in many ways/and I’ll admit we had some memorable days… but just not very many.” His expertise is in using the mundane points of a relationship to funnel into the really important matters at hand. That and crafting memorable, unique tunes.
(www.manifesto.com)
