“What the hell is this?” was one passing comment as Sweet Billy Pilgrim’s utterly bizarre, folked-out take on road music blared out of my speakers. Sitting somewhere between Beck, the Beatles and Sigur Ros (and complete with recorder solos) this is the oddest, most compelling music you’ll here on a major label.
Following on from ‘here it begins’ which is a musically haunting narrative, ‘truth only smiles’ utilises a cornucopia of instruments to back up Elsenberg’s Neil Young-esque voice. It’s beautiful, tuneful and almost instantly catchy in that irritating manner that will have you whistling it in the shower, the bus and pretty much anywhere else without noticing. ‘Bloodless coup’ recalls the manic art-rock of Deus in their heyday, with oddly clattering rhythm backing the vocals before the track expands to reveal a deep bass and guitar that sends the chorus off into the void, dazed and confused and utterly beautiful. ‘Longshore drift’ is a skeletal track that seems to ache with despair, but it’s also stunning beyond belief in its melodic simplicity before the swelling strings at the conclusion drag a lump to the throat. ‘Kalypso’ sounds exactly as the name suggests, an awkwardly melodic little track filled with odd noises that wouldn’t sound out of place on one of the later Swans albums along with a programmed drum beat and pulsing bass that perfectly counterpoints the fragile melodies on offer. It is this endless innovation that marks sweet Billy Pilgrim out as something truly special.
‘Future perfect tense’, grammatically traumatic assertions aside, is a complex little piece that sounds as if it was constructed by two physicists and a super-computer, with traumatic time signatures vying for attention with the increasingly odd acoustic instruments providing the back drop for the vocals. What is really the trick here, though, is the fact that the band manage to make the whole thing sound effortless and catchy, rather than brain-bustingly complex, despite the fact that more often than not, it is. When shimmering guitars chime in about half way into the song, they sound stunning and it’s a highlight of this quirky, yet fascinating album. ‘Joy maker machinery’ adds in choral samples for further disorientation, along with strings and underlying sounds of breathing. It makes for uneasy, but not unpleasant listening and it’s a tune you’ll need to return to again and again to get every nuance out of it.
Final song ‘there it will end’ sees Elsenberg sounding even less stable than ever, with a voice that is wracked with emotion and dangerously close to falling out of tune altogether. Like that classic Neil Young record ‘tonight’s the night’ where the throbbing emotion was almost too close to the surface for comfort, so here do we find a powerful vein of sadness running through the centre of the track which only serves to heighten the sense that you are listening to something utterly compelling and unique.
With hints of Swans, Angels of light, Sigur ros, Mogwai and Pink Floyd, but never sounding quite like anything else you’ve heard, Sweet Billy Pilgrim are a special band who write extraordinarily beautiful music that speaks directly to the soul. Utterly un-commercial, and deeply intelligent and lyrical, this is an album to cherish.
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