“The Cutter” is probably why and how people remember the band, and this is not wrong. The band reaches into its true baroquery here, coming up with one of rock’s most recognized violin parts? Ian McCullough’s lyrics go way into his personal mythology zone on this album, one of post-punk’s surrealist peaks. The vibe here is haze and flash, everyone playing their tails off and creating a beautiful cloud. I think it might be appropriate to call this psychedelic, even though I have never understood the term.

It might be too much to say that Porcupine was a return to the light after the moodier intensity of Heaven Up Here — Echo in its original state was always a band that found its groove in intensity of all kinds, overtly melancholy or not — but thanks to a couple of notable songs in particular the group found its profile growing even stronger worldwide. “The Cutter” and “The Back of Love” both became near-anthems for the group — the latter’s frenetic ending is one of the group’s strongest — while songs like “Clay” and “Gods Will Be Gods” weren’t far behind.