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The momentum of nature morte conjures the image of a beast collapsing beneath its own weight before resiliently staggering upright to thunder onward. BIG|BRAVE convey heft from silence as deftly as they do from swaths of feedback and distortion to cathartic ends. “Distortion is key,” notes Ball. The three members recorded primarily live over the course of a week at Machines with Magnets with Seth Manchester, pushing the potential of their instruments beyond expectations. For each song the trio’s songwriting and attention to detail deliver its simple but devastating emotional power. On “the parable of trusting” Hudson’s cymbal clangs reverberate through Ball’s guitar, stirring out a hauntingly hollow texture. On “my hope renders me a fool,” plumes of low growl and crooning feedback dissolve into clean pensive chords. Opener “carvers, farriers, and knaves,” one of the most relentless and bracing pieces in their oeuvre, deliver with the soar of guitar and voice twisting atop Hudson’s bouldering percussion creating an imposing terrain. Across the album’s six pieces BIG|BRAVE create a tension between immediacy and patience, invoking the essence of disquiet, while conveying anguish through inventive arrangements and nuanced performances. nature morte captures BIG|BRAVE at their heaviest and their mournful fury is at its zenith, an album where each moment is so immense and consuming that it possesses its own gravitational pull.
Lavender Vinyl from Thrill Jockey.
