Some people live and breathe their
music, as if they could be recast against any environment, any
colouring particulars- the only constant their necessity for
compelling music's making. Carla Bozulich is one such artist, her
career having spanned 3 decades now and reincarnated in upwards of
seven bands. Whilst her back catalogue is as diverse as it is long
(dig out some Ethyl Meatplow if you can find it), it was pleasing to
see her picked up by Montreal-based label Constellation in 2005.
After flirting with success after covering Willie Nelson's Red Header
Stranger in it's entirely, Bozulich largely fell off the radar until,
quite out of the blue, she announced her new project on an entirely
new label. Better known for it's work with the city's then-blossoming
avant-garde scene, 2005 saw Constellation move beyond both its city
wall and the genres it had pioneered. Carla, from Los Angeles,
represented a canny move: In Animal Tongue is her fifth album for the
label, her fourth under the Evangelista banner that has allowed yet
another artistic and critical reinvention, as well as offering
Bozulich a creative renewal.
The Evangelista band, comprising
bassist Tara Barnes (formerly of the excellent thrash-nihilist
Duchesses) and sound-artist Dominic Cramp, was itself borne of the
road. Having released her debut for the label, also titled
Evangelista, a touring band was formed. Herein, Barnes and Bozulich
set upon a creative unity that would last to today and bear its
increasing influence on the music. Gone are the dream-set, ominous
samples that would mark her Constellation debut with an unruly
tension- throughout this band's existence, their has almost been an
insistence on it resonating exactly as such: a band. People in a
room, playing instruments through amplifiers.
On album opener 'Artificial Lamb', you
can hear the crackle of guitar leads and electricity. Clean
recordings and few (if any) overdubs- the track's timid
instrumentation gently imposes itself whilst Bozulich moans with
desperation- it's final lines delivered with a cracked, aching high
pitch. Its a telling introduction to what is a very restrained and at
times sombre album. 'Black Jesus' barely awakens, the vocal delivery
passes off like a spoken word against which the music, the repeated
riff, picked from a sea of reverb. On the title track, as the track
reaches a climactic moment with chorus and thumped drums, repeated
calls of “she sung in animal tongue” are delivered at once with
pride and sadness.
This is not an album for mornings or
shining July days, and it is appropriate that Constellation has
chosen to release the album in the midst of Autumn. Everything here
sounds live, and is cast against the kind of very loud silence that
is only present in the very late hours at night. Frequently
performative, sung seemingly ad-lib- there's a creeping feeling that
pervades In Animal Tongue, only increasing as the record reaches the
nostalgia-psychosis of 'Tunnel to the Stars' and the schizophrenia of
closing number 'Hatching'. There's an inexplicable beauty to the
maddening frequencies and drumming that abounds here, and this is how
I feel about the entire record. It is deeply focused, recorded and
performed with care- but it sounds like it was recorded in the wood
cabin from Lars Von Trier's Antichrist. This album is certainly not
for everyone, but unlike that film- In Animal Tongue is, you get the
impression, entirely for real, serious and committed to the notion of
extraordinary listening spaces. That's enough, for me. Whilst it
might not have the strike out value of Hello Voyager (which was,
let's face it, largely a pop album)- In Animal Tongue is a profoundly
interesting album that I'll treasure in my collection. It's weirded
me out frequently and significantly enough to merit the 7 stars I'm
giving it, though newcomers to Carla Bozulich might want to start
elsewhere.
First published in the405
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