“A man is waiting for me at the end of the universe.”
Bossk have a unique place in the post rock and metal scene, having played a significant part of its first push as well as its revival. Although it pushes 1 hour in runtime, the new release .4 is somewhat untitled, being the fourth entry in what Bossk consider their ‘non-album’ releases. Looking down its tracklist, one expects to find the listening experience to be uneven as it’s bristling with features and reworks of Bossk classics. This pans out, but works in the record’s favour. It showcases Bossk as a band that makes one-off experiments and friendly collaborations into centrepieces.
The record begins with a rework of “Kobe”, the standout track from Bossk’s reformation album Audio Noir. Where the original grooved on delays and smashed face with vocalist Sam Marsh, Pijn completely take over the track with their string arrangements. It’s only at the track’s half way point that the track starts to resemble its inspiration, scratching a different itch with the to-and-fro that only strings can provide. It’s this sort of complete re-arrangement that defines .4.
This album is full of reworked material, but it makes sense to first highlight the band’s own reworks and new material on the album. Inspired by a vocal cover by Sheenagh Murray, the band reworks .2’s “Truth” into a sequel, officially giving her the mic with a new arrangement that harkens toward ISIS’ classic Oceanic. The rework fills in the sonic and stylistic gap between the band’s 00s and 10s material, capturing their full sonic evolution in a single song. Murray’s contribution completely shakes things up, forming her own choir with the space the band provides in the track’s latter half. “Events Occur In Real Time” is Bossk’s longest track since the early days of EP II, but it’s much more like their work on Audio Noir and Migration with a focused, doom influenced sound. After a mixed introduction of spacious, steady drones and trumpets in the fog, harsh vocals from Sam Marsh for his last studio appearance with Bossk. After a short yet stratospheric climax, the trumpets lead the band out, back into the unknown.
“Albert” will be the most divisive track – a quick three minutes of shrill electronic beats and angular guitar experiments. A previously one-time live performance for ArcTanGent, it’s a kind of 65daysofstatic-meets-Aphex Twin experiment. Although the band reworked it once again for this release, it has no sonic match across the record, thus it would probably have been safer left on the cutting room floor. On the other hand, “White Stork X Endon” is Endon’s blissful drone rework of Migration’s opener, making a substantial interlude that is more aligned with traditional post rock sensibilities.
A real throwback is the remix of “I” by Bossk member Reuben Gotto, celebrating the rough sound that defined post rock back when Bossk debuted with .1. This time around it’s not so different that it clashes with the rest of the more polished sounds on the album. Just shut your eyes and pretend you found it on an obscure blogspot, and transport yourself back to a simpler time. Speaking of classics from the late 00s, genre stalwarts “The Reverie X Maybeshewill” change “The Reverie” into a stunning piano ballad. Its ending is particularly stunning, with one brave melody making a post-climax slight return.
Following up directly with another remix of the same song, Crown Lands breathe a very different sort of life into the track. It’s a left-field collaboration emphasising the proggy tendencies that have quietly been the crown jewel of the ‘post’ scene. Stepping off the reverb-cannons and delving into synths, the track is a patient and dynamic reimagining. Of all the collaborations on .4, it’s a shame that this one is just a one-off, as it’s absolutely massive, especially the ending which is now enveloped with powerful earworm synth leads. It’s fitting that the record does not try to top this, offering “181 To Beulah” as a finale instead, a 100% guitar drone track by guitarist Alex Hamilton. It’s more than a nod to This Will Destroy You as its melody is unmistakably aligned to “The World Is Our ___”. Hair splitting comparisons aside, it makes for a lovely closer.
When an album is a collage of different sonic excursions, every track ends up sticking out in a different way. If you are a Bossk diehard this record is unmissable as it re-examines tracks across their discography in new ways. Even if you are not, it’s still a safe bet to start a journey into Bossk’s territory. Far too few artists are willing to structure their albums with such reckless variety, even when their own sound contains so much, so I’m glad .4 is as bold as it is, and I anticipate Bossk‘s next full length LP which is tipped for 2025. Furthermore, records like this act as signpost for the scene, offering listeners many avenues to explore new sounds.
7.5/10
.4 drops through Deathwish Records on the 10th May and can be pre-ordered here.