Recoil was born in 1986 as a two-track experimental EP. Simply entitled ‘1 + 2’, this collection of primitive demos caught the attention of Mute Records label boss Daniel Miller and was inconspicuously released as a mini-album on 12" vinyl. An album, Hydrology, soon followed in 1988 and both were eventually re-issued by Mute on CD as Hydrology plus 1+2. These early Recoil recordings revealed Alan’s position as a pioneer in the newly emerging world of sampling technology and demonstrated how he could turn the Depeche sound around to create something entirely new. Wilder described the project at the time as “... an antidote to Depeche Mode; a way to alleviate the frustrations of always working within a pop format”.
Almost immediately, Wilder found himself back in the studio to record what would become the most successful Depeche Mode album to date,‘Violator’. It wasn’t until the band finally allowed themselves an extended break after the enormously successful 'World Violation' tour that Alan could return to Recoil - not, however, before agreeing to produce Ebbhead, an album for label-mates Nitzer Ebb. It was during this time that he cemented a working relationship with lead singer Douglas McCarthy who would return the favour by singing on Recoil’s next album,‘Bloodline’.
Released in 1992, Wilder recruited guest vocalists for the first time with further contributions from Curve's Toni Halliday and Moby, helping to produce an album that demonstrated his ability to concoct slow-burning soundscapes drenched in drowsy paranoia. Bloodline also marked the first Recoil single, a cover of Alex Harvey’s song ‘Faith Healer' as well as the innovative 'Electro Blues For Bukka White', featuring the posthumously sampled voice of Blues-man Bukka White set into a post-modern context - an influential idea later popularised by others.
Between 1992-93 Wilder resumed his Depeche duties as the band recorded the album ‘Songs Of Faith And Devotion’. Released to universal acclaim, it topped the charts in the UK, USA, Germany and a host of other countries. Enjoying hits with ‘I Feel You’, ‘Walking In My Shoes’, ‘In Your Room’ and ‘Condemnation’, the Mode embarked on their most adventurous tour to date, enduring a gruelling 15 months on the road. Although the group had reached the pinnacle of success, aspects of the lifestyle had taken their toll on everyone and things eventually came to a head. In June 1995, having spent 14 years as an integral part of one of the most popular and influential bands the UK has ever produced, Alan Wilder made the difficult but inevitable decision to leave Depeche Mode.
Free from his group commitments, Wilder could now focus solely on Recoil. In September 1996, he began work in his own studio, ‘The Thin Line’, gradually piecing together the unnerving scores that would eventually reveal Recoil's next album ‘Unsound Methods’. The final results were more impressive than ever. What emerged appeared to take up where ‘Songs Of Faith And Devotion’ had left off. Guest vocalists featured Maggie Estep, Siobhan Lynch, the reappearance of Douglas McCarthy, and Hildia Cambell. The styles of each could not be more removed from one another helping to create a startlingly original and diverse collection. The more organic style of Unsound Methods incorporated every imaginable musical genre from trip-hop to gospel whilst dealing with the subject of obsession in all its manifestations, taking the listener to the edge of unease, through dark, dub-infected landscapes, reverberating with shivering piano, seductive strings and a deep electronic pulse.
In the Spring of 2000, Recoil gave us Liquid which this time utilised the unique qualities of internationally acclaimed fellow Mute artist Diamanda Galás, 1940's Gospel crooners The Golden Gate Jubilee Quartet, along with New York spoken-word performers Nicole Blackman and Samantha Coerbell. The worldwide music press received the Liquid album with a host of glowing reviews and Wilder was awarded the Charles Cros Grand Prix 2000. Strangely enthralling and genuinely unhinging, Liquid masquerades as the aural equivalent of a disturbing movie. Wilder's intoxicating soundscapes kick up clouds of the same dark dust that falls on David Lynch or Nine Inch Nails, but where others may hammer out their message with histrionic force, his touch is lighter and characteristically more subtle.
Now, following a 5 year break from recording, Alan Wilder returns with Recoil's 5th studio album, entitled subHuman released in July 2007.
Collaborating this time is Blues-man Joe Richardson with his band Joe Richardson Express, whose evocative vocal style is complimented by accomplished guitar and harmonica performances. Born in Southern Louisiana, Richardson spent years immersed in the murkier side of New Orleans life and offers a unique commentary on conflict, religion, incarceration and personal struggle. English singer Carla Trevaskis, a songwriter in her own right, brings an expressive range and control to subHuman and has worked with artists as diverse as Fred de Faye (Eurythmics), Cliff Hewitt (Apollo 440) and Dave McDonald (Portishead).
Says Wilder: “We seem to have learnt nothing from past experiences and our so called ‘civilised’ world is still awash with personal and global atrocities. From suicide bombings in the Middle East, to ethnic cleansing in the Balkans; from the homophobic rhetoric of the Christian fundamentalist preacher, to the activities of Western governments engaged in their ‘war on terror’".
subHuman asks us to reach within ourselves and extract the very essence of what makes us human - and more importantly what allows us to subordinate others, sometimes with the most brutal consequences. "We are all 'subhuman' in somebody's eyes."
Official site: http://www.recoil.co.uk
Luscious Apparatus
Recoil Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Graveyard shift at the mayonnaise factory
She sat at a teetering picnic table,
There was a toxic orange moon
And it was slightly cold
Carla took out her knife and began etching
Random words into the table's surface
Then, she thought of her co-worker Jack
As a luscious apparatus
He was meaty but graceful
His flesh seemed folded onto his body
Like a suit made of meat
Carla started to think of Jack as a
Luscious apparatus in a meat suit
Thinking this gave Carla a dreamy smile
Her mouth was small to begin with
But dreaming made it even smaller
That's just how some people are,
Their mouths get smaller with dreams Carla's small mouth was dreaming
As her knife began carving a poem into the table
I like hot voids, smooth pants, lazy beds in the rain
I like tongue petals, lather, a blistering sun
But what I like best is the worship
Of a luscious apparatus
When Carla was done carving
She went back to her work station
And scooped shiny white goop into jars
That's just how some people are,
Their mouths get smaller with dreaming
The next day Jack took his own 1am lunch break
At the same picnic table
He noticed the poem carved into the wood
Although he didn't know who had written it,
He coincidentally thought
'Luscious Apparatus' aptly described him
So he took out his own knife and wrote
'Luscious apparatus was here'
The lyrics of Recoil's 'Luscious Apparatus' tell the story of Carla, who is on a break from the graveyard shift at a mayonnaise factory. She sits at a picnic table, under a toxic orange moon, and begins etching random words into the table's surface. Carla thinks of her co-worker Jack, and sees him as a luscious apparatus in a meat suit. She dreams of him while carving a poem into the table about her love of a luscious apparatus. The next day, when Jack takes his own lunch break at the same picnic table, he sees the poem and writes his own message, 'Luscious apparatus was here'.
The song explores the human experience of desire and reveals the strange and sometimes disturbing nature of human attraction. The lyrics present a surreal and dreamlike quality, amplified by the eerie and haunting music that accompanies them. Carla's dreamy smile, her small mouth shrinking with dreaming, and her imagining her co-worker as a luscious apparatus in a meat suit, are all strange and unsettling images that seem to reveal the unpredictable nature of human desire. In this sense, 'Luscious Apparatus' is a powerful example of the way that music and lyricism can explore and express the sometimes dark and unexplained parts of the human psyche.
Line by Line Meaning
Carla was on her break from the
Graveyard shift at the mayonnaise factory
Carla was taking a break from her late-night job at the mayonnaise factory
She sat at a teetering picnic table,
There was a toxic orange moon
And it was slightly cold
She sat at an unstable outdoor table, under a bright orange moon, in chilly weather
Carla took out her knife and began etching
Random words into the table's surface
Carla started carving meaningless words into the table using a knife
Then, she thought of her co-worker Jack
Carla liked to think of Jack
As a luscious apparatus
He was meaty but graceful
His flesh seemed folded onto his body
Like a suit made of meat
Carla started to think of Jack as a
Luscious apparatus in a meat suit
Carla had a vivid imagination and imagined her co-worker Jack as an attractive, graceful person with meaty structure, like wearing a meat suit
Thinking this gave Carla a dreamy smile
Her mouth was small to begin with
But dreaming made it even smaller
That's just how some people are,
Their mouths get smaller with dreams Carla's small mouth was dreaming
The thought of Jack as a ‘luscious apparatus in a meat suit’ made Carla happy and made her smile. Carla's small mouth was dreaming is a metaphor for pleasant fantasies of mind
As her knife began carving a poem into the table
I like hot voids, smooth pants, lazy beds in the rain
I like tongue petals, lather, a blistering sun
But what I like best is the worship
Of a luscious apparatus
Carla wrote a poem on the table about things that she liked but what she liked best was the adoration of someone she perceived as attractive and graceful like Jack
When Carla was done carving
She went back to her work station
And scooped shiny white goop into jars
Carla finished carving the poem and went back to work, packaging something shiny and white into containers
The next day Jack took his own 1am lunch break
At the same picnic table
He noticed the poem carved into the wood
Although he didn't know who had written it,
He coincidentally thought
'Luscious Apparatus' aptly described him
So he took out his own knife and wrote
'Luscious apparatus was here'
Jack had lunch at the same table the next day, saw the poem carved by Carla, coincidentally imagined himself as the ‘luscious apparatus' mentioned in the poem and carved his own message to leave his mark
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