February 3, 2022 by A.S. Van Dorston

The third in a massively influential trilogy of haunting atmospheric post-punk. RIYL The Cure, Echo & the Bunnymen, Joy Division, The Sound, The Teardrop Explodes, The Chameleons.

Along with the first albums by The Sound, The Comsat Angels’ (named after a JG Ballard story) Fiction was a bit of an elusive holy grail for me. I’d managed to snag used vinyl copies of Waiting For A Miracle (1980) and Sleep No More (1981) to play on my post-punk radio show Fester’s Bucket O’ Nasties. Two of the best albums of the early 80s, they were equals to Joy Division, The Cure, Echo & the Bunnymen and The Teardrop Explodes. Their second album’s dense, paranoid darkness rivaled The Cure’s more celebrated descent into existential despair, Pornography. It almost seemed as if Robert Smith was taking notes and even talked about the experience overwhelming his mental health just as Fellowes’. Tourmates U2 were so smitten with their “terrible beauty” they made a similar attempt at mysterious atmospherics on The Unforgettable Fire. It wasn’t until Renascent reissued the albums on CD that I was able to hear Fiction in it’s entirety. While it doesn’t maintain the blackened intensity of their previous album, it’s still sounds nearly perfect.

“After the Rain” may be Stephen Fellows’ attempt at pop, but it’s dejected mood music of the highest order, something that Talk Talk aimed for on half their 80s albums. “Ju-Ju Money” continues the colossal drum sound that Mik Glaisher achieved by playing in a stairwell, a trick that started with Led Zeppelin, while the menacing guitar figure is reminiscent of Public Image Ltd. “Zinger” is all angles and could have fit in on Talking Heads’ Fear Of Music (1979). The shimmering “Pictures” is heart-breakingly gorgeous, a massive influence that remained relevant for dream pop decades later.

The band may have floundered a bit afterwards, with the flawed attempt at pop breakthroughs with Land (1983), but Fiction in retrospect is only a touch less perfect than their first two classics. Some progress was made in reinserting it into the conversation of a post-punk canon, but once again the album is elusive, not available on Bandcamp nor Spotify. At least there’s YouTube.