Hit play, get instantly blown away.
Yeah. That feeling. The adrenaline surge you get when the needle hits the groove and the music floods from the speakers without even a moment’s warning. Recovery is not instant and the rest of the album is spent with at least one eye on the vu meter, lest the band pull the same trick again.
In case you’re wondering, the band that evoked this intense, visceral reaction is Big|Brave, a three-piece whose sole purpose seems to be to reduce the audience to a quivering, nervous wreck. The album, Nature Morte, is a deeply intense experience that lingers long in the memory. Released via Thrill Jockey, it is housed in stunning artwork and it is an albummdestined to take up residence in your home and in your heart.
It is opening number Carvers, Farriers And Knaves that sets the tone. Guitarist / vocalist Robin Wattie tears huge, quivering slabs of noise from her guitar, while guitarist Mathieu Ball and drummer Tasy Hudson create a backdrop that is wholly pulverising. And oh! That voice. Robin takes the presence and delivery of early P J Harvey and pairs it with the unhinged menace of Julie Christmas, throwing in hints of Kurt Cobain for good measure. By turns she sears and soothes, drawing the listener in before savaging them relentlessly. It’s impossible to step away for even a moment and the music just keeps coming, wave after wave.
Next up, the grinding riff of The One Who Bornes A Weary Load is held long after the point of endurance is reached, the band recalling mid-period Swans as they build layer upon layer of beautiful sonic savagery, only to tear it all down and lead the listener along a wholly different path. This is art, this is beauty, and this is menace. It is unearthly, wonderful and utterly absorbing and it is like nothing else out there at the moment. It builds wonderfully and, as the intensity increases, so my skin breaks out in goose bumps, my involuntary reaction to a studio recording underscoring the sheer power the band wield. It gives way to the corrosive drone of My Hope Renders Me A Fool, a dark, speaker-wrecking odyssey that recalls early Earth before they found peace in ambience. It serves as a palette cleanser, allowing the gorgeous The Fable Of Subjugation to haul itself from the wreckage. An earthen piece that seems to exist in an alternate universe where humans still gather at the fireside to worship nature, it is awash in cymbal crashes and reverb-laden feedback. When it does eventually explode, it is around Tasy’s gargantuan tribal rhythms, while Robin emerges as a fury, screaming into the void over layers of screeching noise.
Having comprehensively rearranged the listener’s nerve-endings, A Parable Of The Trusting heads into horror territory, the stabbing riff grinding in the darkness, leaving space for Robin to engage in a vocal that recalls Gira’s terrifyingly intense delivery. Make no mistake, this is less a performance than a calling for Robin, whose commitment is absolute. A gruelling journey for the listener, even after the sonic carnage of the preceding pieces, A Parable Of Trusting is a dense sonic swamp through which to wade. The album closes with the dusty beauty of The Ten Of Swords. A gentle, hypnotic coda to an album that seems to exist in a universe of its own, it helps the listener back to the light, cleansed by the fire and left in awe as to the sheer bravery of the performance.
Nature Morte is a work of art that demands your attention. The power of the production, the passion of the performances and the originality of the material all serve to remind that, no matter how commercial the conveyor belt of music becomes, there are artists out there whose commitment is to make music a spiritual journey. It has been some time since an album affected me quite so powerfully, and it is a release to be treasured. 10/10
BIG|BRAVE spring 2023 EU tour dates:
Apr. 9 – Hamburg, DE – Hafenklang
Apr. 10 – Copenhagen, DK – Loppen
Apr. 11 – Malmö, SE – Plan B
Apr. 12 – Oslo, NO Blå
Apr. 14 – Helsinki, FI – Kuudes Linja
Apr. 15 – Tallinn, EE – Sveta Baar
Apr. 16 – Riga, LV – Noass
Apr. 18 – Vilnius, LI – XI20
Apr. 19 – Warsaw, PL – Voodoo
Apr. 20 – Poznań, PL – Dom Tramwajarza
Apr. 21 – Berlin, DE – Urban Spree
Apr. 23 – Tilburg, NL – Roadburn Festival
Apr. 26 – Nurnberg, DE – KANTINE (beim Künstlerhaus)
Apr. 27 – Dresden, DE – Ostpol
Apr. 28 – Krems, AT – Donaufestival
Apr. 29 – Zagreb, HR – Kset
Apr. 30 – Bologna, IT – Circolo Dev
May 2 – Piediripa, IT (MC) Dong
May 4 – Busto Arsizio, IT – Circolo Gagarin
May 5 – Bulle, CH – Ebullition
May 7 – London, UK – Desertfest
May 9 – Manchester, UK – Soup Kitchen
May 10 – Glasgow, UK – Stereo
May 11 – Newcastle, UK – The Lubber Fiend
May 12 – Liverpool, UK – IWF Substation
May 13 – Norwich, UK – Voodoo Daddy
May 14 – Birmingham, UK – The Castle & Falcon
May 15 – Leeds, UK – Brudenell Social Club
May 16 – Bristol, UK – Dareshack
May 17 – Brighton, UK – The Hope & Ruin
May 18 – Brussels, BE – Ancienne Belgique
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