Bruce Lamont - Feral Songs for the Epic Decline
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Bruce Lamont‘s solo debut is what I’ve wanted from his band Yakuza: not metal. My favorite part of Yakuza’s catalogue is “01000011110011”, a 40-minute psychedelic jam on 2002’s Way of the Dead. Since then, I’ve suffered through several Yakuza live sets and several Yakuza records wondering when they would write an actual riff. They’re fantastic technicians and do avant-garde psychedelia well. But the combination with metal is like oil and water.
So Feral Songs for the Epic Decline (At a Loss, 2011) is a welcome jettisoning of metal. Various experimental sides rear their heads: droning ambience, neofolk, the twang of spaghetti westerns. Lamont’s voices – singing and saxophone – are strong throughout. A white man with a sax can be a menace to society, but Lamont doesn’t try to be anything but himself. So the mystical parts aren’t yoga soundtracks. They’re vaguely Asian, but Lamont knows not to impersonate, say, Tibetan monks. Instead, like the Beastie Boys (“Shambala”, “Bodhisattva Vow”), he adds himself to the mix in big dollops: impassioned singing, pensive sax licks, electronic trickery.
That last bit might be knob-twiddler Sanford Parker. “Deconstructing Self Deconstruction” descends into stutter-edited brutality with a runaway drum machine halfway between Gnaw Their Tongues and Blut aus Nord. It’s unpleasant, but it works in the context of the album, providing a valley from which to rebound for the finale. When heavy music guys get old, they go acoustic – see Michael Gira, Steve Von Till, Scott Kelly, Wino, Dwid Hellion – and maybe Lamont is acknowledging a time after Yakuza. He’ll have more weaponry at his disposal than most.
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HEAR FERAL SONGS
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SEE FERAL SONGS
3/03 Empty Bottle – Chicago, IL
3/19 Valhalla – Austin, TX @ Profound Lore SXSW Showcase
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BUY FERAL SONGS
Amazon (CD)
Amazon (MP3)
DIYstro (MP3)
DIYstro (FLAC)
At a Loss Recordings (CD)
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