Leaving None But Small Birds

The first collaboration between the Body and BIG|BRAVE draws from the two groups shared love of old-time country blues and reverence for folk traditions, additionally taking inspiration from the Bands interpretation of these styles during the 1960s and 70s. BIG|BRAVE started their career playing stripped-down, folk-inspired music before developing a much heavier, doom metal-influenced sound, so in a way theyre returning to their roots, but the resulting album is actually much earthier than any of their past work. And while the Bodys presence is usually unmistakable whenever they collaborate with another artist, this album is enough of a departure from their ever-shifting sound to surprise even longtime fans. BIG|BRAVEs Robin Wattie sings lead vocals on the entire album, and the lyrics and melodies are sourced from North American and English folk songs and hymns. The musicians wed the traditional tunes to droning rhythms, sometimes recalling psych-folk bands like Philadelphias Espers, with rustic violin melodies and shruti box accompanying the crisp drums and autumnal guitar on the opener Blackest Crow. The nearly drumless Hard Times is an entrancing lament about not being properly compensated for heavy labor, culminating in Wattie sinking deeper and deeper into rumbling distortion as she repeats Its hard times in this old mill, its hard times in here. A rendition of Black Is the Colour sounds like an intimate, unamplified bedroom practice, while the sludgy, vengeful Polly Gosford nearly collapses under the weight of its ragged distortion by the end. Both acts channel traditional folk musics power to express extreme desire, sorrow, and emptiness, occasionally driving the bitterness home by pushing the decibels into the red. ~ Paul Simpson