CALLOUS WORLD

Ester Zoobes: Callous World / Hollow Tubes

Gira Records (1980)

You think I'm joking / when I say you are choking

Ester Zoobes apparently came from Bristol, but her only single was released first in France and, a little later, in Portugal. It wasn't a hit in either country, and her invasion of Europe halted there. Ester has a very English voice that occasionally hovers on the threshold of being shrill. The songs, as you might guess by the titles, are great: nippy synth tracks that, like so many records of the time, are obsessed with the slippery surface of consumerism and the trials and tribulations of living in a society permanently on the edge of catching fire, either through indifference or design.

Callous World is a busy ditty with ping pong percussion and ska organ that seemingly approaches the cruelty and selfishness of modern life with a jaded tone, more exhausted than exasperated. Human nature is just nature, after all, why wouldn't it be red in tooth and claw? On closer listening, however, the song is pointedly directed at an unidentified 'you' - someone (I'm assuming some stupid bloke, but remain completely open minded) who thinks they are special and precious and held back and deludes themselves that 'everyone else is to blame'. 

Hollow Tubes is a souped up nursery rhyme which lists modern distractions: microwaves, telephones,  holidays, takeaways, laundromats (a post punk obsession) over a bouncy electronic backing. It's my personal favourite of the two sides, also art pop in conception but more organic in execution. All Ester sees when she looks around is hollow tubes, never ever moving from their little hollow grooves. I felt the same way once, but then I did used to collect the packaging from Smarties. True story.