The Earth Will Swallow The Sun is the second album from DIY two-piece Noisepicker. Comprising Harry Armstrong and Keiran Murphey, Noisepicker exist in a world where Sonic Youth and Screaming Trees vie for supremacy, their earthen, sludgy blues caught between Harry’s Lannegan-esque growl and arcing feedback. Self-recorded, with only the mastering outsourced (to the immensely capable Stefan Bruggermann), The Earth Will Swallow The Sun is one of those rare albums that restores your faith in the enduring power of rock ‘n’ roll at a time when everything else seems to be getting quantised into oblivion.
The album opens with the hazy alt-blues of What You Deserve, which pairs a dusty acoustic guitar riff with squalls of feedback and Harry’s gnarled, Tom Waits-via-Mark-Lannegan vocal. Sparsely arranged and deeply evocative, it makes for a remarkable opening number, and it captures the listener’s attention from the get-go. In contrast, the stair-stepping riff of Chew draws from the dynamics of Jesus Lizard, with hints of Arabrot thrown in for good measure, the resulting track a sludgy, angular nightmare that screams its message straight into the listener’s face. It’s followed by the tightly wound pulse of Tomorrow Lied The Devil, a surprisingly addictive piece packed with cracking one-liners such as “I don’t mean to piss on your chips my friend, but this race has already been won”, as the devil tries to take home another soul.
Kieran leads the way into the nimble art-punk of Leave Me The Name which, with its dynamic percussion and light-touch guitars, sounds like Fugazi covering Screaming Trees. All the more sinister for its restraint, it provides an uneasy sense of calm amidst heavier fare that surrounds it, and it’s hard not to feel a sense of relief when the band wrap up the first half with the stunning What Did You Think Was Going To Happen – a mid-tempo rocker that takes an AC/DC riff and slowly grinds it into dust.
Emerging from a mire of white noise, The End Of The Beginning is a mesmerising psyche rock number that opens the second side on a cataclysmic note, all shimmering cymbals and layered vocals. A sonic nightmare that slowly unfolds before you, it’s a darkly compelling piece that underscores the skill of the arrangements. Elements of jazz and math rock combine for the angular Start The Flood, only for the band to take things back to basics with the sludgy art-doom title track which, led by Kiran’s increasingly brutal percussion, delivers some seriously evil riffage along the way.
With the album hurtling towards its end, the creepy lounge-rock of Lorraine In Blood comes across like Mike Patton channelling Bary Adamson, complete with finger-clicking rhythm and liquid guitar. It segues neatly into Lunatics, a gentle coda played on the guitar and set against the sound of a crowded room. It provides a strangely poignant ending to an album that consistently surprises across its runtime.
It’s so easy to succumb to ennui. In an era where clickbait headlines showcase the latest celebrity declaring that rock is dead, and streaming services have hollowed out the entire industry with their rapacious greed, it takes an album like The Earth Will Swallow The Sun to remind you that there are bands out there who continue to treat music as an art form. A beautifully nuanced album, filled with dynamic and delivered with passion, it marks Noisepicker out as a truly special act. Filled with moments that haul you back to your teenage years, where every band was an act of discovery, The Earth Will Swallow The Sun will leave you feeling inspired and excited, and not a little ashamed for having briefly lost your faith. I’m truly thankful that bands like Noisepicker exist, and I cannot recommend this album enough. 10/10
