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(Clicka qua per la versione Italiana)
(Translated from my original Italian text by ChatGPT and Piero Scaruffi)
For Against formed in Lincoln, Nebraska. They were clones of British bands from the generation of Joy Division and Simple Minds. Jeffrey Runnings, martial bass and perpetually trance-like vocals, Harry Dingman, strikes of dissonance and guitar reverbs, and Greg Hill, frenetic Stewart Copeland-style drumming, emerged with the dance-pop of the album Echelons (Independent Project, 1987 Words On Music, 2004), imbued with a calm sense of fatalism, a less gloomy version of Joy Division: ecstatic melodies over a hypnotic beat (Shine) or almost robotic (Daylight, Loud And Clear) and even frenetic (It's A Lie), nursery-rhyme-like songs propelled by jingle-jangle guitars (Get On With It), and esoteric, suspense-filled atmospheres (the title track).
(Original English text by Piero Scaruffi)
December (Independent Project, 1989 - Words on Music, 2005) was a baroque
exercise in atmospheric pop. The melodic aspect was enhanced without sacrificing
the offbeat quality of the songs.
A few songs were mildly aggressive, starting with opener
Sabres, a disco-punk anthem that echoes Siouxsie Sioux or Joy Division over a steady beat and swirling middle-eastern guitar.
Stranded in Greenland, on the other hand, borrows from Police.
Clandestine High Holy lays those post-punk influences on top of forceful
semi-boogie rhythm; and Svengali balances the hypnotic, driving and melancholy elements of these songs.
On the quiet front, For Against pens the oneiric lullaby The Effect,
and the Indian-esque litany December, but mostly indulges in
the poppy harmonies of They Said, The Last Laugh and Paperwhites.
Catchy refrains, solid rhythms and oneiric arrangements combine to create
powerful songs.
The EP In The Marshes (1990 Words And Music, 2007) seemed to close the story of this unlucky trio by bringing to light some melodic gems from 1986 that had been left off the two albums: Amnesia and Fate above all, but also The Purgatory Salesman and Amen Yves.
Surprisingly, in 1994 the band was reborn, with a revamped lineup centered around the sole survivor Jeffrey Runnings, and returned in splendid form with a single (Don't Do Me Any Favors, Breathless, Spent being its three highlights) and an album, Aperture (Rainbow Quartz, 1993), marred by an excess of melancholy (Today Today), as was the follow-up Mason's California Lunchroom (Rainbow, 1995) with its delicate Hindsight.
Shelf Life (World Domination, 1997) seemed again another dead end.
Instead, after a five-year hiatus, they released Coalesced (World Music, 2002). The album opens with
a tribute to the Byrds (the sprightly jingle-jangling Medication)
and then indulges in languid, romantic mid-tempo ballads (best melody in
Outside a Heart). Off the beaten track,
the seven-minute Coalesced climbs up a psychedelic crescendo in the
vein of early Pink Floyd, and the closing instrumental Love You gently
lulls the mini-album to a transcendental dimension.
For Against is now the trio of Jeffrey Runnings (bass and vocals),
Steven Hinrichs (guitar) and Paul Engelhard (drums).
Shade Side Sunny Side (World Music, 2008), featuring original
guitarist Harry Dingman, contained some of their best material
in 20 years.
After an overture of menacing electronic hums, tribal drums and agonizing guitar, the six-minute Glamour weaves a tuneful tale over a strong guitar riff and a danceable beat.
The melodic approach of
Echo & The Bunnymen and
Joy Division
is evident in the
folk-rock ditty Underestimate that evokes the Sixties in its own teisted manner.
On the other hand, the seven-minute piano ballad Game Over is
a brainy recital in the vein of post-rock, with syncopated beats stacked
up against crescendoes of guitar feedback.
Never Been (Words Music, 2009) is a bit too shy. The highlight is the
Indian-esque hymn Sameness that segues into a catchy
Byrds-ian refrain with a propulsive beat
and psychedelic garnish.
The brief atmospheric instrumental Black Willows,
the languid seven-minute piano-tinged elegy Of A Time
and the spectral closer You Fade
are elegant and tasteful but hardly original.
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