Symbol Soup - Slow Puncture (2023) Hi-Res

About 25 years ago I bought the Symbol Soup box set, nine magazine-like books by two trend watchers about the up-and-coming visual generation at the time. A lot has changed since then, but I really like that the concept of Symbol Soup is getting a new life as the moniker under which UK singer-songwriter Michael Rea releases music. Somehow his full-length debut album Slow Puncture feels like a belated – symbolic – soundtrack to the book: “Pulling up to a new site of destruction // Where I burn just like the bruise // There’s a ransom on your golden days in magazine collage // I’ll be lapping water from a tire in the park let me wait for you // Cause I’m tired of missing cues” (from opening track Dial-A-Dream). You get twelve jangly indie-pop songs, in which folk and rock influences and personal reflections and limitations can be heard. The music is captivating and atmospheric, the lyrics are poetic and appealing: “I dreamt I was in a game show with the prize of becoming human, and that’s been true the whole time” (from Gameshow).