Circus Maximus

Nicholas Currie wrote material for other acts signed to él Records and his own Momus project was one of the guiding lights for the label’s pre-Raphaelite approach to pop. Self-consciously intellectual, Currie took his recording name from the Greek god of satire. His first album on él, Circus Maximus began with the working title Momus Sings The Old Testament To The New Instrumentals, and alongside classic philosophers Plato and Socrates, the songs are crammed with references to John The Baptist, King Solomon and Saint Sebastian, the Christian martyr whom Currie is depicted as in the painting on the album’s sleeve, stripped to the waist and riddled with arrows.

Recorded on a four track with minimal use of synth augmenting Currie’s voice and guitar, the album’s acoustic singer-songwriter stylings were firmly out of step with the prevailing trends of the time. You can hear Donovan in his mannered annunciation, Leonard Cohen in the poetic fatalism and classical allusions of the lyrics, and in Currie’s deft fingerpicking, Nick Drake – very much not the regularly cited touchstone in the mid 80s that he is now. Worth seeking out, the CD edition also features a wonderfully droll update of Jacques Brel’s “Jacky,” titled “Nicky.”