from the LP Compass Kum’pas, Back Door Records, 1980Hailing from the same Liverpool scene which spawned such luminaries as Echo & the Bunnymen and the Teardrop Explodes, Dalek I Love You is often overlooked when summarizing the post-punk scene---unfairly so. These guys do a stellar job of exploring the more electronic side of that broad genre, relying heavily on both synthesizers and drum machines. “We are looking around us now…most concerned by what we see…are we the only one’s, to realize our destiny?” The effect of a lonely monosynth and Alan Gill’s whispery vocal delivery give the listener pause, like maybe the individual saying this stuff doesn’t have all the best intentions. “Oh Dalek I love you, oh Dalek I love you; we’re going to save the world, we’re going to change your world…” If any of you grew up watching Dr. Who ‘70s reruns on PBS like I did, you are well acquainted with the stoic, power-hungry robots known as “daleks” (if you haven’t, it’s worth you-tubing or just do an image search for ‘dalek’). Being that in the television series the daleks were hell-bent on world domination, at any cost, the band is clearly being a tad cheeky and ironic here. The very motoric drumbeat and dual synths which rule the chorus pair nicely, feeling very robotic in their own way and following the theme of the song’s words adeptly, and the dark vibe intensifies: “what would I gain…if I should make my money, sell my brain; what do I see…will I become a slave to a machine?” The standard, post-punk angular guitar riffs don’t feel as pushy when set against those scrumptious synthscapes, and I don’t hesitate to admit that this is my favorite vein of post-punk: Gary Numan, Ulravox, Magazine, etc… Most fittingly for this detached, dissociated aura, they end the story on an ambivalent note; “what do I want…more than this state can provide; what do I think…what do I think?” Back then it really did feel as if we could all go up in a flash of nuclear extinction at any moment, and this track nails that paranoid sociology impeccably.
