For the month of October, I’m taking the #OctAtoZBandChallenge challenge. The premise is simple. Pick a band starting with the day’s assigned alphabet letter and then choose a song from that band.

Day 19

Not exactly a deep cut, but far from the obvious Siouxsie pick, today I’m going with “Painted Bird” off 1982’s underrated A Kiss In The Dreamhouse. There are some household tracks here: “Melt”, “Fireworks” and “Slowdive” are the biggest ones. The album before – Juju – is perhaps more recognizable. But A Kiss In The Dreamhouse was more daring and more experimental. Exactly the reasons why I chose “Painted Bird” of all Siouxsie tracks.

“Painted Bird” rewrites the rules on just about everything. It uses unconventional time signatures and seems to adjust its tempo mid-track. McGeoch experiments with various guitar riffs, from soaring hooks to shuffled arpeggios. Budgie’s drum kit is transformed into a percussion playground. Severin lends a hand on organ. Siouxsie turns in yet another vivid, gut-wrenching vocal performance. And the last 15 seconds of the song are a testament to the gripping power of an unexpected close.

“On lead-poisoned wings – you try to sing. Freak beak shrieks are thrown – at your confusing hue. The peacock screaming eyes – show no mercy no mercy.”