It took decades for post-punk to be recognised as a crucial genre for its innovations and boldness . . . a process that might have happened sooner had were it not due to the collapse of innovation and openness that really took off during the Thatcher / Reagan years. Yet time heals wounds, and the superb material from punk's end to the boom of college rock has been dug up and reassessed to where people don’t remember days when Styx was a bigger name than, say, The Cure . . . and that’s generous! History's been rewritten by former underdogs. Is there anything left to uncover from this great era of innovation and experimentation? “Not too likely” would've been our answer until just weeks ago, when we stumbled into Entracte. We’ve failed to uncover a single reference to this outfit, which existed nearly forty years ago with influential friends / allies, loads of top songs - everything any combo could wish for. Yet despite utter invisibility, we’re releasing Imbalance, a package with an album-length CD / A5 booklet of lyrics and history and artwork, including a piece of superb art from Linder, the formidable visual artist, inspiration to Buzzcocks and Morrissey and a friend to Entracte. Entracte was strikingly original, recording roughly thirty sublime songs of sublime over a few years, starting in the late ’80s, with connections (there’s a great Monochrome Set song about the guitarist!) which should have allowed them leave a huge mark through their inventiveness and charm . . . which leaves us wondering how they slipped through the cracks so completely. But during their lifespan, Entracte released not so much as a single note. The group’s sound is so immediately fresh that it’s hard to describe - world-weary without no hints of atypically moribund goth sound, occasional glimmers of African highlife guitar introducing a strained joy atypical of ‘80s grey. Hues of Bowie and Kraftwerk at their futurist Berlin-best glimmer, against an evocative post-Cold War romanticism. It’s not hard to hear that they could have rivalled any number of groups - Siouxsie & the Banshees and Magazine come to mind - and exceeded cult faves like The Chameleons and The Passions - their palette of ideas was both wider and more consistent, even if in the same vague realm of Young Marble Giants or Colin Newman in the sense of a unique sort of post-punk language. These studio recordings, done on a fairly low budget, hold up incredibly well, not leaving much more to wish for than perhaps a slightly more costly production! What might they have become?

1. Young Pioneers
2. Burn
3. Thai Bridge (Revisited)
4. Shifting Views
5. So Seductively
6. Me And Mine
7. True North
8. La Casa De Las Cabareteras
9. Lullaby - Making Waves