Call Signs is the third studio album by Melbourne electronica band Black Cab, released in 2009.

The album evokes the atmosphere of the former totalitarian state of East Germany, set to a soundtrack of post-punk and atmospheric electronics. In an interview, the band explained the album's sound was inspired by a rare Black Cab tour of Europe in May 2007. Travelling through the former East Germany in a van, vocalist Andrew Coates and guitarist James Lee were struck by the decrepit villages and rundown cities. At the same time they were reading Stasiland

Stasiland

Stasiland: Oh Wasn't it so Terrible - True Stories from Behind the Berlin Wall Stasiland: Oh Wasn't it so Terrible - True Stories from Behind the Berlin Wall Stasiland: Oh Wasn't it so Terrible - True Stories from Behind the Berlin Wall (Stasiland: Ach, war es nicht so schrecklich - Wahre...

, Anna Funder

Anna Funder

Anna Funder is an Australian writer who grew up in Melbourne. She studied creative writing at the University of Melbourne, also later studying at the Free University of Berlin as the recipient in 1994 of a DAAD Scholarship...

's 2004 book about the vast state security apparatus that entangled millions of East Germans. The album featured Died Pretty

Died Pretty

Died Pretty, sometimes The Died Pretty, were an Australian alternative rock band founded by mainstays, Ron Peno as lead singer and Brett Myers as lead guitarist and backing vocalist, in Sydney in 1983 – briefly as Final Solution. Their music started from a base of early electric Bob Dylan with...

 vocalist Ron Peno

Ron Peno

Ronald "Ron" Stephen Peno, who also performed as Ronnie Pop, is an Australian rock singer, he fronted Died Pretty during 1984–2002; and was a member of early Sydney punk band The Hellcats , and followed with The 31st and Screaming Tribesmen .He was born in Gosford, NSW Central Coast.After Died...

 on one track, "Ghost Anthems".

The album was given a favorable reception in reviews, described as "a standout album of mood and moment" and "a powerful work of post-punk atmospherics". It featured in the list of the year's best albums by both the Melbourne Sunday Herald Sun and Sydney Morning Herald

Track listing

(All songs by Andrew Coates and James Lee except where indicated)

1. "Call Signs – 0:23
2. "Church in Berlin" – 4:49
3. "Rescue – 4:45
4. "Fates" – 1:01
5. "Black Angel" – 4:07
6. "Dresden Dynamo" – 3:32
7. "Lost & Falling" – 4:58
8. "Sonnenallee" – 5:59
9. "Wires" – 1:25
10. "Ghost Anthems" (Coates, Lee, Ron Peno
    Ron Peno
    Ronald "Ron" Stephen Peno, who also performed as Ronnie Pop, is an Australian rock singer, he fronted Died Pretty during 1984–2002; and was a member of early Sydney punk band The Hellcats , and followed with The 31st and Screaming Tribesmen .He was born in Gosford, NSW Central Coast.After Died...
    
    – 3:45
11. "After the War" – 5:01
12. "Wires 2" – 0:30
13. "Sword & Shield" - 4:48

Personnel

• Marc Cohn - vocals
• Andrew Coates - vocals, programming, arrangements
• James Lee - electric and acoustic guitar
• Rich Andrew - drums
• Anthony Paine - bass, guitar ("After the War")
• Alex Jarvis - guitar, red witch ("Black Angel")
• Steve Law - keyboards ("Rescue")
• Andy Papp - bass ("Sonnenallee")
• Ron Peno - vocals ("Ghost Anthems")
• Matty Vehl - acoustic piano ("Sword & Shield")