A reductionist’s approach to charting sonic and musical intensity might be to imagine a line, going from “gentle” to “extreme”. Regardless of genre, you can drop most music somewhere on this line depending on its effect on your body – Brian Eno at the bottom, Abba somewhere in the middle, Chelsea Grin somewhere near the top, and so on. Furthermore, you can enjoy useless debates, like whether faster or slower music should merits a “heavier” placement. But the most interesting things happen at the very edges of this space: extreme noise is harsh, yet its adherents will know it can become serene and hypnotic. The most silent music (arguably “lowercase”) can become deafening, particularly when it deconstructs sounds toward purer and purer sine waves.
Gizeh Records is a UK based label that specialise in “the noise of harmony and the harmony of noise”, hinting at their mission to nurture analogue-oriented artists that deal in esoteric sounds. Their past roster (including Nadja/Aidan Baker, Hundred Year Old Man, Wren, and A-Sun Amissa) have explored this negative space where harsh textures can be bent to communicate in gentle ways. The label has returned in 2023 with a burst of activity, including Bleaklow’s debut release Glume. The record can be seen as an A-Sun Amissa venture under a new name, with a new emphasis on short tracks, vocals, and percussion.
Glume’s recording process embraced immediate ideas, improvisation and first-takes. The marvelous textures throughout the record have declined any post-processing adjustment, mostly arriving to the final mix through four-track recorders. Claire Knox’ vocal takes are thickly layered together to form an ethereal chorus, blurring all lyrics beyond obscurity. The centre of the mix is dedicated to Richard Knox’s drone guitar, crafting elemental sounds of the sea, the winds, and the roar of a fire. Lower in the mix are the keyboards, played by both members of Bleaklow, which typically form the basis of each song. Percussion is engaged on only a few tracks, and forms nothing like an acoustic drumbeat: beats are sequenced like stars in a developing night sky.
“Coldharbour Moon” is the record’s centrepiece, the most structurally advanced track, and a good example of the atmosphere that Bleaklow have created. In the very first moment, welcoming volume swells will lull you into a false sense of security. Percussion and vocals enter and weave a verse around the swelling melody. A guitar line played on the edge of amplifier break-up heralds the first harsh sound, hovering like an apparition before ebbing away. At three minutes forty seconds, the swelling drones embrace some of their own distortion and play out the record’s most memorable melody. The textures complicate toward the outro, with keys, bass, vocals, and more guitar. The track then dies out as slowly as it developed. It’s the vocals that really bring Bleaklow’s music to a new atmosphere, as the room feels chamber-sized, and the performances more human yet ghost-like.
There are plenty of harsh moments on Glume. “Husk” moves quickly from gentle keystrokes toward shrill, crackling break-up. Its subtle verse-to-chorus motion gives the intense textures a natural cadence. “Quiet Edge” is the most free-form track, vocal-free but filled with tense, fluttering feedback and tortured chord sequences on the keys. These two tracks make the mid section of the record a tense experience, and closer “Grains in the Water” also has its dark moments, though the melodies are more hopeful place to end the record.
There’s a comforting consistency to the way these Bleaklow tracks have been composed. They seem to be layered upwards from some initial idea, with each improvised addition informing the following layers. This approach is great for creating gradual introductions and outros on all the tracks, though you might come away from the record with few impressions, as there aren’t many hook-like moments. Overall, Glume is a record that, despite its ambient leanings, asks a lot from its listeners with its loosely composed, wandering songs. In return, it will reward you with a unique atmosphere and engrossing textures.
Although Glume is a short record for its type, if you enjoy it, there’s a lot more to explore. Claire Knox’s most similar project is Shield Patterns, and focuses on more tightly-composed, “proper” songs. If you like the percussion elements, Richard‘s recent solo Land Marks record is a collection of frigid epics grounded by the same sparse electronic drums as you’ll find throughout Bleaklow’s work. And if you’re looking for more guitar-gaze, the duo of Claire and Richard have produced an anthology of delicate ambient-noise under the name A-Sun Amissa.
7.5/10
Glume releases this Friday 30th June through Gizeh Records, and can be pre-ordered here or here.