“your beauty is so hard to hold.”
BIG|BRAVE operate in one of the most exciting intersections in the weird-heavy-rock world. They’ve been produced by Efrim Manuel Menuk of Godspeed You! Black Emperor, borrowed amps from Sunn O))), collaborated with The Body, toured with Sumac, and are Roadburn festival mainstays. We’re conditioned to sort this kind of loudness into the “metal” genre, but the way BIG|BRAVE’s music works is something else. Nothing resembles a typical riff, rhythm, or vocal line, even among their close peers. Their new album nature morte is their sixth full length and approximately marks the project’s first full decade. It’s an unrepentantly hostile record that sees the band double down on what makes them so unusual.
Since the band’s new drummer Tay Hudson joined for Vitalin 2021, BIG|BRAVE rhythms have focused on tom-based grooves rather than typical metal or rock patterns. The results are startling, off-kilter beats that are equally minimal and primal. This has made the band even more unique in recent years, as it increases the storytelling qualities of their music. This does come at a cost: most notions of headbanging are snuffed out. The vocals are pointedly obtuse. Robin Wattie has a knack for finding a specifically uncomfortable frequency and throwing her voice at it. It’s emotive, channelling anger and defiance, but leaves behind no hooks. BIG|BRAVE’s indulgence is spent on volume, not exhaustive chains of delays and reverbs, another way they distinguish themselves from the rest of the “post metal” world. And speaking of metal, the guitars are anything but; they are lost in their own feedback, achingly loud and overwhelming in a somehow un-”metal” way. It’s a sound resenting its own creation, a nodding donkey crying as it rises and falls. The tones are reminiscent of Godspeed You! Black Emperor’sAsunder, Sweet and Other Distress, Earth’s The Bees Made Honey in the Lion’s Skull, or Swans’ To Be Kind; so, very very heavy, but without feeling like metal.
With all that in mind, one wonders: “Does it sound good?” I’d answer rhetorically: “Do you want to be destroyed?” In embracing the noise, BIG|BRAVE have left behind no cushions or safety rails, making nature morte a demanding listen. It contains four reasonably-long form heavy tracks which make up its bulk. “carvers, farriers and knaves” starts the record with all cylinders firing – crazed vocals, unleashed feedback, and thunderous drums. As the rhythm builds, the band finds yet more volume. In an instrumental stretch, they produce a false ending that becomes a stop-start pattern. It’s a tough start to a tougher record. “the one who bornes a weary load” continues this theme, spending its first few minutes on an atonal anti-riff that sees no later reprise. The rest of the track is a more enjoyable doomy build-up wreathed in Wattie’s harshest vocals.
Whilst these songs make side A a tough sell, side B of nature morte is more focused onquiet moments that build suspense. On “the fable of subjugation”, beguiling vocals tell a gradually more twisted tale of the male gaze: “because your beauty is so hard to hold / your force so lawless and rash / allow me to prevail / over all your lure”. I found myself transfixed by Wattie’s performance here as she sings the perspective of masculine entitlement. From a rapturous rise and fall at the six minute mark, the band swirls itself up again, with the second and final climax being a confluence of harsh drones. The following song, “a parable of the trusting”, is a slow behemoth with several satisfying moments, like the chords that seem to topple down and collapse at its conclusion.
The record features two shorter “interlude” moments which offer a certain comfort. “hope renders me a fool” is a beatless amplifier soliloquy. On the left, a feedback solo graciously contemplates each pitch carefully, and to the right, a bassier guitar keeps pace like a creaking bough. It’s as tranquil as sharpened feedback can be. Album closer “the ten of swords” is the other gentle moment, closing out the record quietly, as if the distortion budget had been overspent. Wattie’s vocals are hushed and distant, and the band provides a spontaneous backing. These are pleasant moments, but they won’t help you sort through the sonic wreckage preceding them.
nature morte is difficult to recommend, as every element is forebodingly harsh, but it should be heard. You’ve got to be open to enjoying these challenging aspects without the sweeteners you could expect elsewhere, as there are no catchy grooves or wholesome climaxes. Outside of particular moods, I’ll admit to needing a certain quantity of these moments in order to truly dedicate myself to a record. These songs do not resolve in conventional ways; there is no happy ending to nature morte. If you find yourself bouncing off the first track, the second side is perhaps a hair more accessible – perhaps use “hope renders me a fool” as a more likely breach. Warnings aside, the sonic space that BIG|BRAVE inhabit on nature morte has probably never sounded more like they’ve intended.
6.5/10
nature morte is out February 24th via Thrill Jockey Records and can be pre-ordered here.