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Avg: 3.5 (7 ratings)
- Date Released: September 25, 2007
- Genre: Alternative/Punk
- Style: Noise Rock
- Label: Load Records / IODA
Noisy sonic suites make for bleak, hammering symphonies
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We Say...
Mouthus’ first studio expedition (and their 10th release overall), Saw a Halo is a turning point for the Brooklyn guitar/drums duo. In the past they were known for a high volume wall of sound and an unrelenting, free-form attack, but here they layer each track carefully to reveal different nuances in the din. The album is organized into two extended suites — the first four tracks and the last three.
On “Century of Divides,” Mouthus could be a basement version of My Bloody Valentine, given the woozy guitars, clicking percussion and submerged vocals. “Beaches Sleeps Here” pastes loops on top of each other while the vocals recall the languid, octave-apart singing on This Heat’s “Fall of Saigon.” “Wave Through” has moaning, Gyuto monk-worthy vocals, combined with rolling-boil feedback and quiet percussion. “The Gift of Sighs” is an impeccable closer, nearly seven minutes of melancholic organ, acoustic guitar and shaker. Saw a Halo finds Mothus using the studio to show a multitude of dimensions they’ve never displayed live, tapping the medium’s — and their own — full potential. -
They Say...
On Saw a Halo, Mouthus, again with the help of Samara Lubelski, further explore the realms of what can be called extremely shadowy music -- not necessarily the clearest of pseudo-genre names, but apt for what's being done. If anything, as the opening track "Your Far Church" shows, the spirit of some of the most experimental early-'80s rock from New Zealand has taken on new forms here, as the combination of steady chanting, echoed gongs, and treated guitar (or autoharp?) suggests the work of This Kind of Punishment or Wreck Small Speakers on Expensive Stereos. It's not an exact comparison point but it shows that whatever can be considered noise in the 21st century is just as given over to understated withdrawal as screeching collapse -- which is in fact where the immediately following song, "Armies Between," ends up. Generally speaking, Saw a Halo fits into the extremities of that song for the rest of its length, with the kind of scrawling, cryptically aggressive drone/howl that invites meditation as much as anything else; by steering away from recognizably metal riffs in favor of more no-wave-derived experimentation, Mouthus arguably aim here at high-volume ambient sound. It's a well-traveled route on its own now as well, but Saw a Halo works well on that front, nearly every song blending seamlessly into the next and showing distinct differences in exact approach rather than simply being arbitrarily chosen. Thus the softly spoken and more immediately rhythmic "Century of Divides" feels miles away from the focused grind and growl of "Wave Through," a chugging monster that itself is immediately contrasted with the mix of calm gentility and phased outer space guitar mania that characterizes the closing "The Gift of Sighs."
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| 01. |  |
Your Far Church |
4:48 |
|
| 02. | |
Armies Between |
4:40 |
|
| 03. | |
The Driftless |
6:46 |
|
| 04. | |
Century of Divides |
5:42 |
|
| 05. | |
Beaches Sleep Here |
7:05 |
|
| 06. | |
Wave Through |
7:13 |
|
| 07. | |
The Gift of Sighs |
8:11 |
|
07 Total Tracks, 44:25 Total Length
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