Style: Noise, ambient, field recordings, avant-garde
Primary Emotions/Themes: Confusion, randomness, questioning what is music and what is not, unease, deeply disturbed
Thoughts: This album is one of the strangest recordings I have ever heard. It's a collection of noises, tones, random assortments of drones, howling vocals, wind chimes, animals, and probably anything and everything else that could possibly be scrounged together to create this monstrosity.
Seriously what. the. fuck. is going on in this album? Nurse With Wound has always been one of the stranger acts on the planet, but even their typical tomfoolery is outdone on this live album.
Do you like random farm animal noises played over steel on steel banging with overwhelming feedback in the background? Got you covered. Do you like silence that is pierced by howling female vocals that sound like they are getting impaled by count Vlad (I seriously wonder if Diamanda Galas did vocals on this part)? The second LP here is right up your alley. What about a tool box filled with thousands of tools being spilled out over a garage floor the size of an aircraft hanger and echoes so much that the feedback loops in on itself? You guessed it, this is the album for you!
I have no idea what to think of this album. There is experimental music that goes off the deep end. There is avant-garde music that pushes the boundaries of what can be called music and structure. There are artists that will play whatever comes to mind and manipulate the sound until it is completely unrecognizable. All of those things are conventional compared to Nurse With Wound.
If there is one thing that is consistent in NWW's output, its that it sounds like nothing else on the planet, and it is creepy as all get out. The atmosphere on Bar Maldoror is always unsettling, always unnerving, and always designed to keep the listener on edge. If that is your thing, then this is absolutely the album you have been searching for. Just watch out for the bagpipes on your way out.
Written August 24th 2023
No comments:
Post a Comment