“I am limp in somber hope.”
BIG|BRAVE are a unique band, and a chaos of flowers is an even more unique record. Despite their rigorous touring schedule, it arrives only a year after nature morte. Even more significant is its this is an album that sees a new reflection of the drone rock three-piece. They increasingly land on fringes of the definition of post rock and metal, but BIG|BRAVE are simply a very loud band doing very interesting things. a chaos of flowers is a de-escalation of their wrathful sound from nature morte, a steady and pensive record that becomes the most important entry in their discography.
A unique aspect of a chaos of flowers is the approach to its lyrics, which take centre stage for the first time. Guitarist and singer Robin Wattie has selected works from six different female poets to form the main body of the album’s words: Emily Dickinson, Akiko Yosano, Renée Vivien, Esther Popel, Tekahionwake, and E. Pauline Johnson. Wattie selected their poems from the public domain because these writers challenged societal norms and thinking. Delivered in a mix of sung and spoken word, Wattie’s vocal pace is steady, respectful, and invokes a folk-like charm that befits their poetic origins. True to their roots in Montreal, there is even a French poem on “chanson pour mon ombre“. Wattie’s own words are on just two tracks: “canon : in canon” and “quotidian : solemnity”. The result of this focus is a merging of the singer-songwriter-poetry traditions with bleeding edge drone guitar practices, and it simply works brilliantly. Look no further than opener “i felt a funeral” to disover why, as Wattie‘s stunning voice take your ear for a waltz through a crackling valley of overdrive.
It goes without saying that the distorted tones on the album are second to none. Seth Manchester is once again a dependable producer who captures both the titanic weight and luscious subtleties of BIG|BRAVE‘s guitars. It’s not just sonic delight, though, as the licks coming out of Mathieu Ball’s fingers would be engrossing through any amount of distortion. Ball balances an unmistakable blues influence with improvisational ‘post rock’ feel. The only real comparison to his playing is that of Dylan Carson of Earth, but even that grows faint. The low-end guitars are delivered by Wattie whilst she sings, fluttering high above in a magically carved aural space. It’s a hefty yet gentle swell: fuzzy, gnarly, warm, and inviting, all at once.
All the performances are careful, perhaps none more so than the rhythms. Tasy Hudson is to thank for BIG|BRAVE’s avoidance of typical rock and metal comparisons, as she simply does not drum like anyone would expect. On less intense and low tempo album such as a chaos of flowers, she finds the perfect steady compliment to each piece, and production assists by preserving snare buzz, providing an engrossing stereo stage. Other drummers would populate every quiet passage with incidental wandering flourishes, but Hudson is deliberate and precise.
It’s important to bear in mind that the record feels airy, soft, and light only by comparison to their previous work, as there are plenty of heavy moments. “not speaking of the ways” climaxes with noise in all registers, and “chanson pour mon ombre” closes with frustrated drums and guitar outbursts, kept steady in the chaos by Wattie’s vocal delivery. “canon : in canon” has unleashed guitars from Ball, but the simple clean melody emerges from the wreckage unscathed at the very end for Wattie‘s final verse. The real shift is in the ‘intent’ of the band, something that can’t be described so quantitively; these are drone guitar pieces that seek embrace instead of a stand off. A real moment of respite is the interlude “a song for Marie part iii”, perhaps a gentle nod to nature morte’s “my hope renders me a fool” due to its placement at the record’s centre. The closer “moonset” is where the balance of light and dark finds perfection. Its atmosphere is that of a badlands sunset scene, with soft tremolo-ed guitar taking the sun down gently. This delicate atmosphere still holds even as a feedback riot closes the track.
Whilst I greatly respected BIG|BRAVE’s work on nature morte, the more difficult aspects of their sound make it hard to find space for it within my rotation. a chaos of flowers is the opposite, being ‘easy listening’ by way of its poetic and unassuming nature, and all the more engrossing. The album broadens what we can define as BIG|BRAVE’s sound – slow and less-is-more, it’s perhaps it’s their most ‘unplugged’ album. At the very least, it’s hands down ‘my’ BIG|BRAVE album, and it so carefully tempers intensity that it could be the record that lets the band break into new spaces. Finally, if BIG|BRAVE are somehow keeping up with the release schedule they’ve kept for the last two years, they could be about to enter the studio once again to record something even more compelling.
8.5/10
a chaos of flowers releases on the 19th April through Thrill Jockey and can be pre-ordered here.