Nurse With Wound

Very, very broadly speaking, there are two kinds of Nurse With Wound albums: the sprawling, immersive, evolving drone-type recordings - think Soliloquy for Lilith, Salt Marie Celeste - and the wild, surreal freak-outs. A Sucked Orange is a prime example of the latter. Originally released by United Dairies at the end of the 1980s, A Sucked Orange has long been out of print, especially on vinyl. Infinite Fog is beyond happy to bring this singular work back as a 2LP picture-vinyl edition in a sumptuous gatefold sleeve, a tape and a DigiCD.
 
Across 36 tracks, each clocking in anywhere from five seconds to just over four minutes, A Sucked Orange is a beautifully deranged ride through the unexpected: cracked miniatures, tape mutations, absurdist interruptions, phantom folk, industrial jokes, and sudden moments of strange beauty. It is also a fine introduction to the weirdest side of the Stapleton sound palette. Far from being merely a collection of cutting-room leftovers, or a simple compilation of material available elsewhere like the Automating albums, A Sucked Orange stands as a complete and deeply peculiar Nurse With Wound statement in its own right. As with much of NWW’s work, themes and sounds appear here that the avid fan may recognise from older, often obscure releases, alongside glimpses of what was still future soundwork at the time of the album’s original release.
 
Unlike the record probably closest to it in concept, 1985’s Sylvie and Babs Hi-Fi Companion - which boasted a long list of infamous contributors - A Sucked Orange never came with a “who-did-what” insert. But it is safe to assume that most of England’s Hidden Reverse were on board for this. Even though the only clear credit goes to Sinan Leong of SPK, via “Sinan Sings for Her Chums,” the rest remains mysterious. At the end of the day, as with all of Steven’s work, it is the sound that matters, not the ego. And the sound here will blow clear your ear trumpets, that’s for sure.
 
A Sucked Orange returns at last: strange, funny, unstable, grotesque, beautifully bizarre, and ready once again to rearrange the furniture inside your head.