Joseph Coward on Psychic TV's 'Force The Hand Of Chance'

One of the main reasons we started this zine is because we love hearing about other peoples favourite records, and so we decided to launch a sorta series in which we ask some of our favourite artists to talk about one of their favourite albums. Here we have the captivating and effortlessly witty London-based singer/songwriter Joseph Coward talking about Psychic TV's 'Force The Hand Of Chance.'

I once met Genesis P-­Orridge, at the last ever Throbbing Gristle show. It was held in London, days before he (technically ’s/he’, ‘he’ for the purposes of this article) departed for New York, and just weeks before the death of his long­time friend and co­conspirator Peter “Sleazy” Christopherson. With breast implants and a wig worn to make himself appear indentical to his ex wife, a look completed by two rows of dazzling gold teeth, P-Orridge was (to put it mildly) an imposing presence.

This feeling of creeping menace is ever­present on Force The Hand Of Chance (1982), the first outing of P­-Orridge’s art­noise collective Psychic TV. Even sweet, ‘50s style torch songs (“Just Drifting”) are rendered sinister by his sensual, sibilant hiss.

I find myself bewitched by the album’s sweeping melodies, the use of sound as texture and its sophisticated, nuanced noise. The effect is as mesmerising as it is unsettling.

Another aspect of the album that never fails to impress me is its daring. It could be said that a group as obscure as Psychic TV had nothing to lose, but experiments that don’t succeed are a risky – and often costly – process for any band in the studio. The combination of string orchestras, oblique narration of spoken word poems, barbershop vocals, guitar feedback and electronic percussion looks, at least on paper, like a mission that was doomed to fail. But under P­Orridge’s direction and with the songwriting chops of Sleazy and Alex Fergusson (no, not that one), Force The Hand Of Chance is an aural marvel to behold.