Enola Gay / Phantom split LP
A post-mortem collection of the Łódź, Poland-based post-punk group PHANTOM, who formed in 1979 and later renamed themselves ENOLA GAY in the mid-’80s, so the “split” status here is more that of a split mirror. To make things especially confusing, the five songs on the A-side were all recorded as ENOLA GAY in 1983, while the five B-side tracks are 1984 recordings credited to PHANTOM, so I’m assuming the name change must have been fairly temporary? PHANTOM reportedly started out by covering the likes of the STRANGLERS and GARY NEWMAN, and the influence of the latter is definitely perceptible in the unnerved, slightly androgynous delivery of vocalist Bogusia Michalonka and the syncopated new wave backing of the band’s ENOLA GAY iteration—the synth-squealing anxiety of “Grzybobranie” is basically a Replicas replica (but a really good one). It’s total android oddness on that half of the record, while the PHANTOM tracks put a touch more emphasis on the shrouded doom and gloom that was a hallmark of Eastern Bloc post-punk. The lurching rhythms and anguished undead howls of “Dusseldorf” gesture toward the death drone of early 4AD fixtures REMA-REMA, as the synth-forward “Puszka” and “Marionetka” split off in the direction of an elastic, danceable sound that’s vaguely NDW-like. Like so many bands who operated behind the Iron Curtain, ENOLA GAY and PHANTOM were never properly documented in their own time, but the labels behind this LP have really been putting in the work to preserve the histories of the Polish punk underground, and these songs were certainly worth rescuing.