Not Born Beautiful

It’s ironic that the first album released on él Records was perhaps the record most out of step with Mark Alway’s meticulously curated aesthetic. Formed by former Lemon Kittens singer Karl Blake, Shock Headed Peters had been one of Alway’s pet projects towards the end of his time at Blanco Y Negro and he took them with him for his new venture. “We didn’t really fit into what became the él ‘house style’,” remembers guitarist Dave Knight. “We wanted to be as heavy as Black Sabbath and as crooningly unnerving as Scott Walker.” Not Born Beautiful’s shock-art assault of doomy melodrama and heavy noise may have been at odds with the fey romanticism of Shock Headed Peters’ labelmates, but it makes for a uniquely arresting listen. Not least on the peerless rockabilly ode to same-sex love “I, Bloodbrother Be,” and “Bad Samaritans,” a glowering ambient/industrial thunderstorm which suggests Walker himself may have been a fan.