Chord - Flora

Flora (Neurot, 2009) is the anti-“Giant Steps”. Instead of Coltrane’s light-speed chord changes, it deals out exactly four chords, one per song (Am7, Gmaj(b13), E9, and Am). Chord, a Chicago collective, assigns each of its members one note in each chord. Each member must make that note interesting, using octaves, effects, and various articulations, over the course of 11 minute-plus soundscapes.

Am (excerpt)
Gmaj(b13) (excerpt)

Drones are not new in heavy music — see Sunn O))) and early Earth. Those groups work with riffs, however, hauling chords up and down pits of tube tones. Sunn O)))’s later work adds more upper register information, but it is a spread, not a solute. The core riffs remain distinguishable below layers of vocals and other instruments.

Chord lacks riffs, but its sound is more unified, yet more mobile. All the tonal information is immediately evident; the first few notes of a track are its only notes. Yet within this seemingly limited world is a great deal of exploration. The players literally pick their way over, around, and in between the notes. An analogue: clambering around the landscape in one of today’s high-powered video games.

Another source of sonic enrichment is distortion. When the group swells to heavy, electric peaks, its distortion forms halos of overtones. It produces more notes than it plays. That’s why rock’s basic E power chord has so much “power”. Through distortion, it carries not only its constituent notes, but also spikes of overtones.

Despite its strictures, Chord paints surprisingly broadly. “E9” is deep and meditative, while “Am” works up an industrial pulse evoking Godflesh’s “Flowers”. This is primal stuff — metal stripped of cultural trappings and plugged into larger contexts like oceans and magnetic fields. It’s tender at times, tsunami-like at others, and mesmerizing throughout. It’s also a good starting point to explore other purveyors of drone: Tim Hecker, Charlemagne Palestine, Glenn Branca, Rhys Chatham. The latter’s A Crimson Grail, a piece for 400 electric guitars, is one of humanity’s most sublime creations.

Buy:
Amazon (CD)
Amazon (MP3)
Neurot (CD)
The End (CD)