Big Brave
Music in a voluminous and amplified state as a locomotive for a space of constant tension. The Canadians Big Brave are part of a group of unique names in the contemporary experimental music scene, despite the recurring perceptions of noisy experimentalism or even the most extreme and raw ramblings of the black landscapes of doom. Since ‘Feral Verdure’, their debut album released in 2014, Big Brave have created a wide atmospheric space balanced by a corpulent electrical intensity, but also by times of serenity and almost sound absence.
‘A Gaze Among Them’ is not a paradigm shift in the band’s journey, despite the production having relied on precious elements to deepen the ambient layers attached to the hard riffs in contrast to the soft intonations of Robin Wattie. In the recent album, there is a certain return to the original pillars of the Big Brave concept: space, tension, minimalism and voice. A slight revisitation of the trio (Mathieu Ball, guitar, Robin Wattie, guitar and vocals, Loel Campbell, drums) to the sonic intentions of the past, with the collaboration of key session musicians such as Thierry Amar (GY!BE, Thee Silver Mt Zion) on double bass and Seth Manchester on synthesizers. Despite the bold, perhaps daring sound, endowed with sludge or doom metal connotations, Big Brave return with a full-bodied record, but with minimal elegance and above all cathartic. A debut that promises to shake the aquarium stage, in what will certainly be one of the performances not to be missed in 2022, at ZDB. JH
fagelle
In Fågelle’s music, layers of noise intersect with pop melodies in a rhythmic exploration through the use of pedals, synthesizers and samplers. Sound diving that makes experimentation a primordial stage using recordings that range from the countryside to the Moscow metro, passing through noisy guitars and tormented synthesizers, until finding a song that surrenders to, between sound art and pop.
In constant collaboration with producer Henryk Lipp (Anna von Hausswolff, Blue for Two, Union Carbide), ideas grow from tiny snippets of text to the sounding of the biggest storms. Noisy melody about our time, with the Swedish language about power and powerlessness – “a gentle punch in the face” as it has been described.