n.b. This is a reflection on the e.p. by Ant Parker and how it develops themes from his earlier work with the band Why?
Obligatory Windmills is the e.p. that musician Ant Parker recorded not long after his influential folk band Why? released Happy, their excellent final album. In many ways the e.p. is an eloquent distillation of the band’s oeuvre, including Northern European night journeys over land and by ferry, reflections on faith within and beyond organised religion, and wordplay in abundance.
Opener Walking the Street evokes the atmosphere of long distance travel outside holiday season, with the tone becoming gradually darker and more mysterious as the narrator moves east: ‘It won’t be long till we’re held captive by the darkness, but it won’t be long till we’re set free.’ We’re taken to Amsterdam, with a distinct note of caution in the voice, to Hanover and finally ‘Eastern Europe on the night ghost train to nowhere…we arrive before the sun on the horizon.‘ I’m sure I read an interview with Ant once in which he said if he wasn’t a songwriter he would be a poet – with these lines, we can easily see why: that beauty in the paradox of arriving nowhere, the endless cycle of the sun rising and setting. Journeys by boat and on land, for example through ‘many short Stena line nights’, ‘into Wells down the A39’, and ‘through the fog to LHR’, are recurring motifs in Ant’s writing and are particularly atmospheric on this song where the curiously unpopulated streets heighten the loneliness of the homesick touring musician or travelling worker. To me this is reminiscent of W.G. Sebald’s narrator in Vertigo who ‘had no alternative but to take the night express across the Brenner’ and who in the poem Please, as translated by Michael Hamburger, asks for the ‘brown overcoat from the Rhine Valley in which at one time I used to ramble by night.’ The ominous tone of the chord changes are complemented perfectly by a voice that blends anticipation with uncertainty as the night grows darker.
Second song Hidden Power combines humour with serious reflection on what it means to look for signs of God beyond the confines of a church building, continuing a lyrical theme from Why? days, for example in the song Three Short Stories from the album Giggle: ‘It’s easy on a Sunday when you’re sitting with your church mates; sometimes I need to talk to God outside his business hours! ‘
In Hidden Power, the line ‘I thought I saw you on the television: 3 in the morning on OU revision’ has to be one of my favourite lines from any song, the nocturnal setting established by Walking the Street is consolidated by the confusion of a baffling night time Maths or Physics lesson, managing also in its perfectly balanced rhythm to find a rich vein of nostalgia for a time of shared cultural experiences liberatingly limited by a narrow band of TV options.
Ant Parker’s vision of what it means to be important is perhaps the central message of all Why? albums and this e.p. It was signposted in the liner notes of Rachel Says Boo, their first album, with the phrase ‘It’s nice to be important, but it’s more important to be nice’ featuring prominently. I would perhaps summarise their recurring message as ‘Everyone is equally important so please treat yourself with the respect you deserve and extend that to other people.’ In Hidden Power, we realise again that Ant is not someone who would doff his cap to somebody on the basis of social status, whether that’s underneath the ‘decrepit steeple’ of the church or in ‘public places’ where we see ‘the doctor with his rainbow braces.’ This is pure speculation, but I wonder if this sensibility is heightened by having lived in towns and villages in Somerset and Devon with relatively small populations; perhaps the perceived status and prestige of certain local figures becomes more pronounced and oppressive than it would in other places.
The up-tempo family affair ‘It’s Probably True’ was written by Ant’s brother, the outstanding songwriter Nick Parker (http://nick-parker.co.uk), and includes a reference to their father, the amazing Neo-surrealist artist Norman Parker (https://np.01458.com). The ultra-inventive lines include ‘It’s probably true; I serve faster than Krajicek. It’s probably true; I cry ‘check’ before Kasparov.’ By mentioning so many people who are experts in their fields (‘I mow my lawn better than Titchmarsh’) the arrogance of anyone whose ‘ego’s gigantic just like the Atlantic‘ is skilfully exposed, but in a life affirming rather than a judgemental way. Obligatory Windmills is a critique of arbitrary pride and social convention; it heads north and east when others might go south, looks for the divine in odd places, destroys the ego through joy and finally, on Little Girl attacks the social pressures which confront children: ‘Caught up in…the moment, so-called friends will tell you it’s ok: but it’s not OK.’ Why? were always unafraid of being counter-cultural, using their platform to generate unbelievable amounts of fun, energy and lightheartedness, while also warning against the opposite ‘because the drug that you thought would lift you high drags you down…and you wish you could start your life again like a child.’
The reflective tone and distilled wisdom of Little Girl is in a similar vein to the ballads Game of Life and Nil Score which closed Why? albums with extended reflections on the absurdity of life, along with some philosophical conclusions to draw upon in response. Perhaps they were the band’s unique versions of a blessing and commission at the end of a church service. For example, from Game of Life: Putting ‘somebody’ down on a triple word score, 7 i’s coming out of the bag. Today is today, yesterday’s gone, tomorrow we’ll start something new is an absolutely ingenious way to show us via Scrabble that sometimes things just don’t go your way, so move on: or perhaps that if you use ‘somebody’ for personal gain, the universe may mock you with the instant karma of replacement scrabble tiles which reveal your ‘me, me, me’ approach in all of its futility. Games condense life’s fortunes: ‘Every ladder we climb has a snake at the top waiting to bring us back down…’ but while enjoying life for yourself, remember to extend the pleasure to others: ‘Along the way take time to smell the flowers and send one up to those living in city towers.’
Obligatory Windmills is testament to a brilliant songwriter and wordsmith, synthesising many of the themes presented throughout the 90’s by Why? I wonder if Ant will produce a follow-up over the next 25 years, or maybe a 50th anniversary double header with an additional disc, for example: Optional Turbines, Negotiable Hydroelectric Power Plants, Mandatory Biodiesel Coffee Grounds, Ethical Grounds for Hell: Smooth Roast, Slain in the spirit: buoyed up by Keema Naan, Premortal Crumpet, Interdimensional Waffle?
Wilderspool Causeway 