Borderlands

構成数 : 1
合計収録時間 : 00:43:09
Recording information: 313 Studios, South Tucson (03/2018); Colorado House Studio, Tucson, Arizona (03/2018); Connor Catfish Gallaher's Home Studiom Tucson, Arizona (03/2018); Eindhoven, Netherlands (03/2018); Nambe Pueblo, New Mexico (03/2018); The Myrrors Rehearsal Space, Tucson (03/2018); 313 Studios, South Tucson (12/2017); Colorado House Studio, Tucson, Arizona (12/2017); Connor Catfish Gallaher's Home Studiom Tucson, Arizona (12/2017); Eindhoven, Netherlands (12/2017); Nambe Pueblo, New Mexico (12/2017); The Myrrors Rehearsal Space, Tucson (12/2017); 313 Studios, South Tucson (2017); Colorado House Studio, Tucson, Arizona (2017); Connor Catfish Gallaher's Home Studiom Tucson, Arizona (2017); Eindhoven, Netherlands (2017); Nambe Pueblo, New Mexico (2017); The Myrrors Rehearsal Space, Tucson (2017). Initially appearing as a home-recorded amateur psych band while the group's members were still in high school during the late 2000s, Arizona's the Myrrors regrouped around 2013 and have been continually expanding their sound ever since, incorporating new influences and instruments from around the world. Their lyrics have also become increasingly more political, reflecting the need for unity and resistance, and seeming to express a particular solidarity with their neighbors across the Mexican border, as evidenced by 2017's Hasta La Victoria. That album's follow-up, Borderlands, is essentially more of the same, but it still finds the group trying new approaches. Opening salvo "Awakening" is a pair of brief free jazz/drone bursts, instantly capturing the audience's attention. From there, the group lock into the steady groove of "The Blood That Runs the Border," featuring viola as the lead instrument, as well as a lush arrangement of instruments (primarily played by frontman Nik Rayne) which include wood flutes, electric bouzouki, and Afghan rubab. Indeed, the group's arrangements have never sounded more adventurous, and their blend of elements from different cultures (particularly Middle Eastern and Indian) helps their sound stand out. After the ecstatic jam "Formaciones Rojas," which concludes with a snippet of protest chanting, "Biznagas" is softer, earthier, and more devotional, putting guitars aside and focusing on hand percussion and the entrancing sounds of the bulbul tarang. Everything leads up to "Note from the Underground," the colossal 20-minute improvisation which ends the album (although this is most certainly just an excerpt of a much longer group session). Finding common ground in Krautrock, Terry Riley, and raga, the heavy, steady rhythm serves as a bed to intense layers of grinding electric viola and cascading saxophone patterns which slowly rotate back and forth. Borderlands showcases the Myrrors at their boldest and most triumphant. ~ Paul Simpson