"Windowpane" is a song by British experimental band Coil, from their third studio album, ''

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''.

Background

Written and produced by the band with lyrics by

John Balance Geoffrey Nigel Laurence Rushton (16 February 1962 – 13 November 2004), better known under the pseudonyms John Balance or the later variation Jhonn Balance, was an English musician, occultist, artist and poet. He was best known as a co-founde ...

, it was released in 1990 by Threshold House on 12"

vinyl Vinyl may refer to: Chemistry * Polyvinyl chloride (PVC), a particular vinyl polymer * Vinyl cation, a type of carbocation * Vinyl group, a broad class of organic molecules in chemistry * Vinyl polymer, a group of polymers derived from vinyl m ...

and CD; in the US, the single was licensed by the indie record label

Wax Trax! Records Wax Trax! Records is an American independent record label based in Chicago. It began as a record shop in Denver, Colorado, opened by life partners Jim Nash and Dannie Flesher, who sold the store in 1978 and moved to Chicago. In November of that y ...

. The song's accompanying video was directed by

Peter Christopherson Peter Martin Christopherson (also known as Sleazy, 27 February 1955 – 25 November 2010) was an English musician, video director, commercial artist, designer and photographer, and former member of British design agency Hipgnosis. He also found ...

. "Windowpane" appears here truncated, missing the backwards vocals as they appear on the end of the song's album version. The "Astral Paddington Mix" is purely instrumental. Regarded as a “proto-‘

trip-hop Trip hop (sometimes used synonymously with "downtempo") is a musical genre that originated in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom, especially Bristol. It has been described as a psychedelic fusion of hip hop and electronica with slow tempos ...

’” track, the song refers in the title to

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encapsulated in thin gelatin squares, with the lyrics referring to the subjective effects of an LSD trip ("See microscopic, see world view, see the future leaking through; see the person who once was you").

Release history

Three versions of this single were pressed on 12" vinyl, a white label promo, a picture disc, and a standard edition on black vinyl. An edition of 5,000 were produced as picture discs, 2,000 of which were purposely destroyed. All versions of the vinyl were released in 1990 and have exactly the same tracks and track timings. All three versions are also etched as follows: Side A: THE CLEARLIGHT..., Side B: AND THE DIAMOND PATH. Two CD versions were produced. The first one was released on the label Torso, with the catalogue number TORSO CD 174. The second one was released on the label

Wax Trax! Wax Trax! Records is an American independent record label based in Chicago. It began as a record shop in Denver, Colorado, opened by life partners Jim Nash and Dannie Flesher, who sold the store in 1978 and moved to Chicago. In November of that ...

, with catalogue number WAXCDS 9142. Both CD versions were released in 1990 and have the same tracks and track timings.

Track listing

12" versions

Side A: # "Windowpane" - 5:48 Side B: # "Windowpane (Astral Paddington Mix)" - 5:37

CD versions

# "Windowpane (Minimal Mix)" – 5:28 # "Windowpane" – 5:49 # "Windowpane (Astral Paddington Mix)" – 5:37

References

External links

* *
''Windowpane''
at

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{{Authority control 1991 singles Coil (band) songs 1990 songs Songs about drugs Lysergic acid diethylamide Wax Trax! Records singles