Chichester post-punk group Indifferent Dance Centre get deserved reissue treatment on Outer Reaches

Hot on the tattered heels of Terminal Tokyo – the reissued cult UK DIY single by Garage Class and the inaugural release on Outer Reaches – arrives Flight & Pursuit, another overlooked revelation of provincial post-punk, this time by Indifferent Dance Centre. A four-piece from Chichester, a quiet Cathedral city in West Sussex, the group consisted of Lizzy Dowling (vocals / lyrics), Christopher Binns (guitar), Ashley Barrett (bass) and Douglas Barrett (drums / guitar & bass when required).

Without, as Dowling declared, “Martin Hannett, Paul Morley, Postcard or Factory” to lend credibility to their venture and without the means to splash out on studio time, this was a line-up that came together on one Sunday in August 1981 at their local Lavant Village Hall to capture ‘Flight & Pursuit’ and ‘Release’; two recordings of beguiling, impeccably restrained, reclusive music that possess a discretely epiphanic and timeless quality. In their expression of a self-contained world they reveal a group that rests within the same self-made, economical and rarefied continuum as the Marine Girls, Young Marble Giants, AC Marias, Anna Domino and The Raincoats.

With only ‘Flight & Pursuit’ compiled on the Hyped To Death CD compilation Messthetics #108: South Coast D.I.Y. ’77 – 81 back in 2011, the original 7” vinyl has begun to command inflated prices in the usual places. With this special reissue on Outer Reaches, out 2nd November on digital and limited edition 7″ with new artwork, that state of play is thankfully redressed. Alongside this restored material comes an ‘Indifferently Humble Refix’ by Ransom Note Records’ own C.A.R. – a floor-fortified reinterpretation that reshapes ‘Flight & Pursuit’ as a lustrous and heavyweight minimal wave voyage, taking IDC from their former enclaves of interiority into the kind of lurid discotheque that’s soundtracked by Gina X Performance, Cómeme 12”s and the early works of Johnny Jewel.

As it goes the Flight & Pursuit 7” was the only physical release Indifferent Dance Centre put out into the world on their own appropriately named Recluse label. Nevertheless, as a solitary piece of output, it’s a stunning accomplishment that has only improved with time. One record is all they needed. Pre-order it here and stream the title track below:

Flight & Pursuit is out 2nd November via Outer Reaches; pre-order it here.