Skip to content
Visitors: Electric Heat 7” (1979, Deep Cuts Records)
I don’t have much info for you about this single, which I struck from my want list last week. It had been there for many years courtesy of my friend Shane. Unfortunately for me, Shane moved back to his hometown of Portland a few years ago, but while he was in Raleigh, we would hang out every so often. We’d always play records for each other. He’d show up with a big stack of vinyl that I’d never heard before, and all of it would be on my want list by the end of the night. Such was the case with this 1979 EP from Visitors.
I haven’t been able to dig up much info about Visitors. I know they were from Edinburgh, Scotland, and the title track’s lyrics and the snowy photo of the band on the cover are right in line with what I imagine that city must be like in winter. I can’t find any info about any of the members’ other projects, though Visitors released a second single in 1980 and a third in 1981. I found a YouTube stream for the third single and it had a lush, 60s-influenced sound that reminded me of the Teardrop Explodes. Very different vibes than these three tracks. These the tracks have been compiled several times, so maybe one of those comps has liner notes that shed a little more light on Visitors?
As for Electric Heat, it’s a great single, certainly worthy of being comped several times. Standing on the verge of synth-punk, the title track’s lumbering post-punk combined with the primitive synth sound makes me think of Dub Housing-era Pere Ubu, but much starker, more primitive, and DIY. The second track, “Moth,” is cut from a similar cloth, while the b-side, “One Line,” is a waxing and waning number whose build-ups remind me of the Stranglers. Not a dud among the three, and when you throw in a snazzy pic sleeve, you have a very exciting single.