One Hand Clapping RecordsSmile Brigade
Mascot jingle-core: relentlessly major-key, immaculately harmonized civic cheer — the kind of song a town is more or less legally required to enjoy. The harmony is perfect. That is the unsettling part. And there is a fifth head, PAL, who arrived with the band; the band did not arrive with PAL.
Mascot jingle-core — major key always, relentlessly, immaculately harmonized; sunshine pop performed as civic law. The sincerity is total, and the sincerity is the horror, and the sincerity is also just sincerity.
The Campaign
Cheer, issued on schedule, for the good of the town.
Four, and PAL
The four are flawless and on time. The fifth, PAL, is the mascot who arrived with the band — present, total attendance, melody not assigned. Morale improves when PAL is present. Do not request the attachment.
Solly
the Sun; counts the band in by smiling wider
Merribell
the Bluebird; the part that makes your chest go funny
Cusp
the Tooth; the room gets slightly more serious
Pylon
the Traffic Cone; every cadence lands where a foot should
PAL
the fifth head; resembles nothing; never given the melody
Major Key, Always
The Laws of the Brigade are short and absolute. Major key, always, relentlessly: the catalogue contains no minor-key song and never will. The crack in the Brigade is not in the harmony — the harmony is immaculate — and that is the whole unease of them. The sincerity is total, and the sincerity is the horror, and the sincerity is also, when you stop bracing against it, just sincerity, which may be the most frightening reading of all.
And then there is PAL. The file is brief: arrived with the band; the band did not arrive with PAL. Vocal role, present. Role, present. Melody, not assigned. Disciplinary record, none. Commendations, none. Attendance, total. Remarks: morale improves when PAL is present. Morale also declines when PAL is present. The file is complete. Do not request the attachment.
The Extras
The small stubborn objects and the lyric books — some free, some sold out, some lost. Scarcity is part of the record.
PAL
The fifth head. Present at every performance, assigned no melody, beloved by civic ordinance. We were asked not to describe PAL further, and on this one occasion the label has decided the request was reasonable.
The Laws of the Brigade
Major key always; the harmony immaculate; the sincerity total. Three rules, one mascot, no minor chords. Printed on cheerful card stock that does not yellow, which is itself unsettling.
Pull a Thread
Every band on the label is one room of the same house. A few doors out of this one:
Please enjoy the following. Enjoyment is, of course, entirely your choice.