REISSUE ON PURPLE VINYL.
SECOND LAYER was a side project of ADRIAN BORLAND and GRAHAM BAILEY, members of post punk band THE SOUND. The project was born from early punk band THE OUTSIDERS, which had both Graham and Adrian as members. Second Layer featured the voice and guitars of Adrian mixed with the bass and pioneering electronics of Graham. The music was bleak, detached, and desolate, but very beautiful. Honest songwriting and a harsh sonic backdrop set them apart from their peers. The band’s first two singles were released by Tortch label. The first was Flesh As Property EP in 1979 and the second State Of Emergency EP in 1980. By 1981 Second Layer had found a home on London-based label Cherry Red and released their debut album World of Rubber in November of that year. Full of hard mechanical sounds produced by Adrian’s guitars and Graham’s homemade drum machines, the album actively engages the listener. Songs are manic and twisted, pervaded with haunting subterranean atmospheres. Adrian’s anguished voice tackles lyrics that are politically charged and morbidly fixated. Metallic guitar riffs, moody basslines, and Wasp synthesizer beeps are set to the band’s cache of processed tape loops. They are a homegrown electronic garage band that sit alongside their contemporaries Joy Division, Cabaret Voltaire and Public Image Limited. This deluxe 2xLP edition features the complete recorded output of Second Layer plus 5 unreleased demos from 1978-80. All songs have been remastered for vinyl by George Horn at Fantasy Studios. Each LP comes in an exact replica of the original metallic sliver and black jacket from the 1981 issue with a never seen before fold out poster made by the band in 1980 with liner notes, photos and press clippings. Though Adrian passed away in 1999, his genius lives on in these recordings. “Clap the headphones on, squeeze the volume up.”.
