22 Dec 09 - CD, Review
‘A Peaceable Kingdom’, the first CD by The Golden Sores and their second release to date, finds the Chicago duo recapturing the esoteric imagery, overpowering-yet-abstract titles, and cohesive drone of their debut. Though it’s honestly not plain which element is the most valuable – the religiousness of band’s visual aesthetic (from the medieval of their self-release into Bloodlust!’s baroque darkness) works phenomenal wonders for the perception of this equally austere sound – it is apparent that if any advance has been made, it is into the treatment of the recordings. With a shortening of scope, they seem to have stepped back from their play with form to make finer adjustments at the level of grain (and certainly these two things are impossible to wholly separate): where textures previously cut great swathes of vacant space in an almost figurative abstract sound, each of the six tracks on ‘A Peaceable Kingdom’ follow a similar formula of drone base and accumulating layers, resulting in an unequivocally drone album. Less Xenakis, more Oliveros - a blessing for the pragmatic drone user. Broad, low-frequency tones rumble beneath cheery mids making for a relentless optimism which clashes with titles like “Klonopin” and “The Awful Rowing Toward God”. Though marred by white-hot scrabble and jolts of feedback – certifiable “noise” - these effects appear simply a stylized veneer beneath which the actual form emerges. CD comes in a jewelcase with professional inserts. (Bloodlust! CD, $14 HERE)
