S.O.D. "Under the Milky Way" by The Church

8/27/2015    Aside from genres, alternative rock and post punk, probably unrecognizable are neopsychedelia and dark wave.  As good a tune as this is, not much work went into it composition wise.  The writers, Church bassist Steve Kilbey  and Karin Jansson of alternative rock band Curious (Yellow), active from 1987–1990, kind of made things up as they went along.  Kilbey says of the moment, "I smoked a joint and started playing piano, then she came into the room and we just made it up".  

     The 1988 release uses an acoustic 12 string guitar played with an E-bow, a kind of string resonator that is monophonic and drives only one string at a time creating a sound resembling a violin.  A Fender Jazzmaster guitar is also used on the track recorded on a Synclavier which has a sound similar to bagpipes.  In the band's home of Australia it ranked #19 on the charts, charted in a few other countries placing at #2 in the US.  At the Aria Music Awards in 1989 it won "Single of the Year" and The Weekend Australian Magazine wrote that it was the best song to come out of Australia in the last 20 years.  The group formed in Sydney, Australia in 1980 and are still active with only four past members.