Gold Afternoon Fix was released at the same time I discovered Phillip K. Dick. This fortuitous pairing has always influenced my perceptions of GAF. In my opinion, GAF has as much to do with PKD as it does with any of its musical influences. Dick, like other great science fiction writers, penned social, political, and philosophical critiques disguised as science fiction. GAF is populated by characters enslaved to power and intoxicated by technology, vanity, and drugs, poised on the precipice of some poignant knowledge of reality.

Consider Pharaoh with its imagery of a brutal power enforcing profit over principle (one man with a big connection takes the whole damn ship in the wrong direction) contrasted with a voice asking for sanity (is there anybody out there/show your faces if you dare). This is a consistent theme in Dick's novels. Ive heard that its about the bands relationship to the record label in the wake of the success of Starfish, but by couching it in metaphor, it transcends and becomes a larger remark on our relationship to any powerful entity. It sets the stage for the apocalyptic tension that pervades Metropolis (back in metropolis/the weather is ridiculous/whats it all coming to?), Terra Nova Cain (back before the continent sank/you could still go outside), Grind (a vortex appears, unleashed by the crash), and especially City (In this very house/a giant was born/ with two angry eyes/and one sharp black horn).

What I love most about GAF, and other works by the Church, is the theme of intoxication. Intoxication via power is clearly evident in Pharaoh. Marty touches on it in Russian Autumn Heart (a trillion pennies/for a handful of dust). Intoxication via technology is adeptly depicted in Terra Nova Cain (we used to float around her weightless bedroom/that drove me right up the wall). You're Still Beautiful describes intoxication via vanity (when you looked at your reflection and asked/are you still beautiful baby) and Grind also depicts it (line up the arrows/push off the cap/ this can cause sustain forever).

I mentioned that the narratives of GAF also describe some poignant knowledge of reality. For example, City (behind the vicars gates/ a sign reads beware of god), Monday Morning (shes forgotten your name, the cracks become quite clear), Essence (the universe is female/eluding the science of men), Disappointment (drowned for the moment/on an empty ocean floor), Laughing (and theyre laughing/laughing at you anyway), and Grind (again, a vortex appears/unleashed by the crash).

Finally, the songs are simply beautiful. That this band would consciously release filler is anathema to me.