release date: 1997
format: digital
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,58]
producer: The Refo:mation
label: Phantom Records - nationality: Australia
Track highlights: 2. "Don't Move" - 5. "All See It Now" - 10. "Get Over It" - 11. "Take Your Place" - 14. "Stop"
1st and only album by The Refo:mation, whose full title is Pharmakoi / Distance-Crunching Honchos With Echo Units may almost be considered a studio album by The Church, but there is a particular reason why the album isn't credited the better known band. After the critically acclaimed but financially disastrous Magician Among the Spirits (Aug. 1996) both Steve Kilbey and Marty Willson-Piper were preoccupied by their own solo careers as well as collaborative projects, and they remained physically separated as both Kilbey, Peter Koppes, and Tim Powles were in Australia, while Willson-Piper was living in Sweden busy saving recordings for the fifth album by All About Eve, which in '97 was released under the title of Seeing Stars, but he was also writing songs for several artists in '96 and therefore couldn't find time for Australia nor The Church, so Kilbey, Koppes, and Powles decided to release these new tracks under the project name The Refo:mation.
Stylistically, the band has moved more into an electrified rock universe, as a counterpart to the more experimental '96 album. Powles' technical skills as a sound engineer and mixer may be heard in the production, which gives contributes with a more dynamic expression. The album points in many directions, but there is still a balance, and although the album doesn't fall directly into the back catalog of The Church, there is no doubt that the group has found new paths with this album, which later will be heard on the albums Hologram of Baal (1998) and After Everything Now This (2002) by The Church.
