Minimal Wave Records

We’re proud to an­noun­ce that we’ll be re­is­su­ing Blancman­ge’s semi­n­al debut EP Irene & Mavis in Novemb­er, 2013. For­med in the UK by Neil Arthur and Steph­en Lus­combe, Blancman­ge re­cor­ded the six songs on Irene & Mavis in 1979 and re­leased it as a 7” EP in 1980. Irene & Mavis, though not ex­act­ly re­presen­tative of what Blancman­ge later went on to be­come, is a fas­cinat­ing relic that cap­tures the ges­ta­tion per­iod of the duo, fresh out of art school and keen to ex­peri­ment. The D.I.Y. sound of the EP fits right in there with the early out­put of Soft Cell, the Human League, and Cabaret Vol­taire; but what separates it from those like-minded re­leases of the time is that its even more dis­tinct­ly En­glish. In fact it was Daniel Mill­er, sup­port­er and Mute boss him­self who first re­cog­nized this when he pro­claimed them “the maid­en aunts of electronic music”. The Irene & Mavis EP is simul­taneous­ly pioneer­ing, pro­vin­ci­al, and sur­re­al in its down-to- earth playful­ness and lack of ar­tifice. It stands out as an im­por­tant re­cord, cap­tur­ing the mun­dane with modern electronics and re­mains as an ar­tifact re­presen­tative of the band be­fore they went on to reach pop chart suc­cess. The Irene & Mavis EP has been newly re­mas­tered and will be re­leased as a num­bered li­mited edi­tion 10” EP in Novemb­er. A di­git­al re­lease will fol­low.

Catch Blancman­ge on tour this Novemb­er, in con­junc­tion with the re­lease of their new album, Happy Famil­ies Too…, featur­ing up­dated re­cord­ings of the origin­al tracks from their 1982 debut album.
Furth­er in­for­ma­tion on their of­fici­al site: http://www.blancman­ge.co.uk/