The Nodding Folk

NODAPOC 667, 1992, Running time: 09:17

The Nodding Folk
  1. Children of the Nodapoc Gather Round - 03:27
  2. Love Dance of the Nodding Folk - 05:49

This short, two song EP is packaged with a 24-page, magazine-sized comic book entitled “The Apocalyptic Folk in ‘The Nodding God Unveiled.’” Like Crowleymass, the project is an exploration of the silly side of Current 93. Not exactly a must-have if you’re a casual C93 listener, but the collector will want to own this. It’s a lot of fun, if nothing else. No lyrics.

The comic is an exotic mix of psychedelic fantasy and moronic self-parody. It is fantastically funny, particularly the scatological Coil references. The first half is a strange story following the adventures of Goddy (ie, Noddy) as he mistakes a cult ceremony for a rave and is forced by the high priest to drink a hallucinogenic brew. I’m sure you can imagine how that turns out… The second half contains various full-page drawings, a goofy section about “Miracles and bizarre happenings in the Final Church”, and a 1982 - 1991 Current 93 discography.

Track one on the CD, CHILDREN OF THE NODAPOC GATHER ROUND, is a cute and vaguely sweet song that is lyrically somewhat atypical of C93. In it, Tibet sounds almost conversational (the first line is “Hi! Hello to all my friends”), and the lyrics contain a few more modern references than usual. It’s a nicely melodic piece, sounding almost musicbox-like at points. It ends with some scattered applause, a strange sample about fish(!?) and an odd little melody that fades into silence.

LOVE DANCE OF THE NODDING FOLK is even stranger. It fades in with the ending melody from track one and begins with Tibet, in his evil Noddy voice, asking questions like: “Can I interest you in death?” and “Shall I move next door?” interspersed with various appropriate samples and sound effects. As a brief side note, according to Hilmar Orn Hilmarsson, “Can I interest you in death?” used to be Tibet’s favorite pick-up line; apparently, it wasn’t very successful. The second part of the song is a chaotic and silly mix of circus-style music, random demented Noddy vocals, and various bizarre effects.

No epilogue.