Hardy Fox identified himself as the primary composer for the Residents in 2017, having retired in 2015 (and dying soon after of brain cancer in 2018). But there have been many theories as to who the Residents could be under their eyeball masks, with particular interest subjected to the members of the Cryptic Corporation who have always steadfastly promoted and represented the band and their music, but it wasn’t until 2018 when we finally got our first confirmed identity. It allows them to reinvent themselves completely several times over for a start. Senada is almost certainly an invention of the Residents themselves, but the Theory of Obscurity has allowed them to devote their career use their identity (or lack of it) as a central part of their mythos. Unlike fellow anonymous outsider musician Jandek, whose records are essentially just instalments of one peculiar vision that just flow into each other, the Residents have spent their entire career playing with the themes of identity. It doesn’t matter who they are, the music is all that matters. The Theory of Obscurity states that an artist can only produce pure art when the expectations and influences of the outside world are not taken into consideration. Ostensibly a Bavarian composer and music theorist, N Senada’s main contribution to the lore of the Residents is his “Theory of Obscurity”. But that’s also not really quite correct, because part of the reason why the Residents always sound like the Residents is because of The Mysterious N Senada. For over fifty years, they have produced rigorously odd and eccentric records that have touched on opera, blues, industrial, ambient, folk music and so much more but always, inevitably, they sound like the Residents. There’s an argument to be had that the Residents do this too. Bands like the Wedding Present, Clinic, the Ramones, Guided by Voices… always different, always the same. There’s a sense that some musicians find a particularly sonic world that works, and then delight in mining that for the rest of their careers, just finding new and interesting ways to mould those sounds.

John Peel’s now infamous cliche about the Fall (always different, always the same) applies to so many bands. And this record is rich with those allusions.” They’re one of the first postmodern bands in that way… There’s always been a level of decoding of their stuff to fully appreciate their work, part of the joy of being deliberately a band whose identity is intended to be irrelevant. “Part of the appeal of the Residents has always been their ability to weave their older projects into existing ones. ❉ This is the most sonically adventurous The Residents have sounded in years, writes Chris Browning.

Theory of obscurity residents