01622nam a22001697a 4500003000500000005001700005008004100022020002900063040003300092082001200125100002000137245003300157260004900190300002200239520118000261521001101441322820251007115229.0251007b        sa ||||| |||| 00| 0 eng d  a9781509839452qPaperback  aMPLbEnglishc3228dRDAeRDA 0aEF COVE  aCoventry, David  aDance prone/cDavid Coventry  aLansdowne Village, Dublin:bPicador,c©2020  a392 pages.c20 cm  aDuring their 1985 tour, two events of hatred and stupidity forever change the lives of a band’s four members. Neues Bauen, a post-hardcore Illinois group homing in on their own small fame, head on with frontman Conrad Wells sexually assaulted and guitarist Tone Seburg wounded by gunshot. The band staggers forth into the American landscape, traversing time and investigating each of their relationships with history, memory, authenticity, violence and revelling in transcendence through the act of art.

With decades passed and compelled by his wife’s failing health to track down Tone, Conrad flies to North Africa where her brother is rumoured to be hiding with a renowned artist from their past. There he instead meets various characters including his former drummer, Spence. Amongst the sprawl and shout of Morocco, the men attempt to recall what happened to them during their lost years of mental disintegration and emotional poverty.

Dance Prone is a novel of music, ritual and love. It is live, tense and corporeal. Full of closely observed details of indie-rock, of punk infused performance, the road and the players’ relationship to violence, hate and peace.  aAdults