1981@40: MODELS - CUT LUNCH

The late '70s saw the faddish return of the EP and the institution of the 12 inch single which had slipped off the club DJ's turntable into livingrooms. And in the early '80s to the end of the decade there was the mini-album. These were typically 6 tracks long and the idea was that they were a concentration of what an act was doing, all killer no filler. More typically, they were like EPs with filler. Models broke the mould right out of the gate by releasing this as a 10 inch, 33 1/3. Whether they intended or not Cut Lunch serves as a tidy bridge between the alt-pop of Alphabravo... and the soon to follow Local and/or General LPs. 

Bright and bouncy numbers ringing with keyboards and processed guitars but with gutteral lead vocals and song structures that didn't have to pretend to be singles fill the grooves, here. Atlantic Romantic and Two Cabs to the Toucan standout as catchy but there's always that grab back in either the lyrics or strangled singing where more chart-conscious bands would have gone down the UK synthpop crooner route. What we get here is contempt for that but also a more accessible presentation of part of the live set at the time. But this is a contempt that feels like fun; it's bratty but played with discipline as though there should be no chance that the sneer would be missed.

Models would climb to the mid '80s more or less on their own terms with their more jagged edges finding an easy accomodation in the charting Pleasure of Your Company at a time when the market had time for the more difficult stuff. After that everything smoothed to mid decade coola and goon morass. But until then there was a band called Models who were visible above the already high shoulders of the Melbourne scene who, like their cohorts The Birthday Party, Hunters and Collectors etc had the profile and committment to tour nationally at least and fill venues with wit, attitude that told the crowd beyond the edge of the stage that everyone in the room was part of a history that wouldn't repeat. This clanging, squeaking, whirling and growling pair of sides made sure of that. It's still fun.