Celebration marks yet another band for Katrina Ford and Sean Antanaitis. In the past they've been Birdland and Jaks, amongst others. This time they've found themselves under the wing of TV On The Radio's David Sitek, and ended up on the marvellous 4AD label.
The influence of both is very much in evidence; it's there in the strange ethereal sounds, and in the fragile vocals cooed delicately on B-side Run Away. War itself is driven along by some remarkably disjointed drumming (courtesy of David Bergander) and a wonderfully unnerving organ. Ford's voice is schizophrenic to say the least, swinging from something akin to Robert Smith to occasional yelps and breathless shamanic chants.
"Got. More. Guns. Than. Anybody!" she shrieks at one point. She's not wrong; this whole track is an exhilarating ride through chaos, which more than shows off the considerable arsenal of the performers. It's a pure celebration of Celebration's collective talents. Apparently the band have been playing this song for sometime and want to drop it from their live set, but won't until the war (presumably the Iraq War) ends. Which is good news for music lovers at least. Every cloud...
