The eloquently-monikered Githead are former Wire frontman Colin Newman, Minimal Compact's Malka Speigel, her bandmate Max Franken, and guitarist Robin Rimbaud, otherwise known as techno-head extraordinaire Scanner. A superband formed from such a diverse bunch of musicians is enough to arouse any casual observer's curiosity; although having said that, it's unsurprising that the prevalent influence comes from Newman's background in dense, ambient art-punk. Profile is essentially a collection of pop songs seasoned with various experimental styles. 'Alpha' is reminiscent of a (later) Wire-throwback, Newman hinting at Ian Dury trying to imitate a Mike Skinner collaboration with Ian Brown. 'Cosmology For Beginners' could almost be a Cake track, in both vocal delivery and musical style; Spiegel's taut, meaty basslines provide a strong backbone for the majority of the album and the dominant layered guitars bestow a warm fuzz. Standout track 'They Are' borrows from Lemon Jelly's School of Atmospheric Space Pop, although Newman's stark vocal style often detracts from the instrumentation and is often at odds with the music. If there is a single sticking point about Profile, however, it is that the largely nonsensical lyrics (which Newman apparently accumulated by picking choice phrases from his 'Junk Mail' folder) leave a hollow, cold feeling that lingers throughout the nine tracks, leading me to ponder that perhaps all nine, and not just two would have been more effective as instrumentals. Purists can argue that it was never about the lyrics with Newman; but to the casual observer, there's nothing on 'Profile' except pleasant and sometimes brilliant arrangements of pop songs over puerile gibberish. Shame.
