victoria canning photography
'The Day Of Reckoning. The Day Of 333.'
Words by Victoria J.
'THE Effects of 3: 33', a collection, is a new instrumental extravaganza from San Francisco's very own spokesmen of Rock and founders of that sub-sequential Roll, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club.
The elusive anticipation surrounding this record since it's announcement little more than a week before it's release, is amplified by one online command, a flashing box in the centre of my screen that informs me to wait till 3: 33. I wait. The clock strikes, slowly, teasingly, but surely at time. The screen fills with addresses and card details and all in blur of fingers and thumbs I proceed to checkout.
It plays, the first track. The albums opening proposition to the world, affectionately named 'The Effects of 333'. Silence, then an influx of character, surrounding the room in a wash of pure ambiance and white noise. It makes for uncomfortable listening alone, a creation that depicts so much space and indistinguishable time you're almost lost to it. The solution, my television playing in the background to pull me back into a somewhat reality.
We slip into the next track, louder than the first, more mechanical, a repetition of ideas chugging through just over five minutes of fluctuations between motions and denser sounds. As a result of my adoration for this band, I sit through the cloud of noise erupting from my speakers. As an instrumental record alone, this album is as far from. More than anything, it's collection of extended interludes from the span of four albums. A lot of the music you can equate to past songs, noticing where the ideas would have fitted in comfortably with favourites such as 'White Palms' and 'Rifles' tracks from the first album.
However, its originality and unique organization poses the questions, 'Was this music made to go with a lyric?' Or was it just a giant sound experiment, looking towards a new album, another possibly, without drummer Nick Jago. Does this album show the musical freedom his departure has given Hayes and Been? Its release independent of any label suggests the duo are now formally in control of themselves and free from any commercial obligation they may have ever felt pressured by.
A fourth track, 'And With This Comes' kicks in and as the familiar strums of the guitar play lazily along, I ease gently into the album. It's an almost inaudible track, that comes and goes in a blink of an eye but seemingly leaves its lonely echoing mark in the listeners heart. Whilst dabbling in an odd feeling of contented abandonment there is an element about the music that leaves a poignant sting of salty tears in your eyes, sends a shiver of ice cold down your spine and throughout your body. The songs that follow are just echoes, distant hummings or swells of thought conjured by the duo since the album, 'Howl'.
On ' A Twisted State' an old guitar takes lead once more, the second of only two appearances on the record, along a steady line of finger picking, also reminiscent from the days of their third album. This is seen in its bluesy plod, evocative of 'Gospel Song' and carrying itself as well as 'Restless Sinner'.
It's a dark album but a mature idea that brings belated recognition for the group and many to congratulate the duo on sampling something new. These tracks appear like general musings from the band whilst on the road, music to fill a space between shows and locations. As each song asks you to stop and think, it also evokes you leave the dry and dusty life of 9-5 and plays with your desire to throw some clothes in a bag and head out yonder.
'The Effects of 333' work this way. First with a level of intrigue, second confusion and lastly understanding. The album becomes everything in your head, in my head, the person sitting at the next table. It's the sound your conscious would make, every electrode and pulse and signal. It's the million people talking at once, and the scarring silence of loneliness. The cold of heartbreak and the warmth of hope. Personally it's an album that comes from the mind of it's creators more than the heart, from trying to understand what is going on inside and putting it all in a place where it makes sense. You are forced to relate to the music logically because emotionally it's too intense.
If hitting this album in one go seems daunting, I would still insist on doing so. Resist the urge to set your ipod to 'random', listen to the musics in there entirety and in the order the band intended them to be played, only then mix the instrumentals with the lyrical songs and see the way the puzzle joins together.
The album is personal, almost uncomfortably so. It seems new territory for the band, sound and vision having been created from a place we hadn't been allowed to venture before. Some parts of the songs are quite raw, unusual and I can feel in my gut the anxious twist of laying all you have inside you, out there for everyone to see and criticize. I think this is remarkable feat from two incredibly quiet and private musicians whose music means so much more to them now than it did at the beginning.
www.blackrebelmotorcycleclub.com
photo by Tessa Angus
www.tessaangus.com
'THE Effects of 3: 33', a collection, is a new instrumental extravaganza from San Francisco's very own spokesmen of Rock and founders of that sub-sequential Roll, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club.
The elusive anticipation surrounding this record since it's announcement little more than a week before it's release, is amplified by one online command, a flashing box in the centre of my screen that informs me to wait till 3: 33. I wait. The clock strikes, slowly, teasingly, but surely at time. The screen fills with addresses and card details and all in blur of fingers and thumbs I proceed to checkout.
It plays, the first track. The albums opening proposition to the world, affectionately named 'The Effects of 333'. Silence, then an influx of character, surrounding the room in a wash of pure ambiance and white noise. It makes for uncomfortable listening alone, a creation that depicts so much space and indistinguishable time you're almost lost to it. The solution, my television playing in the background to pull me back into a somewhat reality.
We slip into the next track, louder than the first, more mechanical, a repetition of ideas chugging through just over five minutes of fluctuations between motions and denser sounds. As a result of my adoration for this band, I sit through the cloud of noise erupting from my speakers. As an instrumental record alone, this album is as far from. More than anything, it's collection of extended interludes from the span of four albums. A lot of the music you can equate to past songs, noticing where the ideas would have fitted in comfortably with favourites such as 'White Palms' and 'Rifles' tracks from the first album.
However, its originality and unique organization poses the questions, 'Was this music made to go with a lyric?' Or was it just a giant sound experiment, looking towards a new album, another possibly, without drummer Nick Jago. Does this album show the musical freedom his departure has given Hayes and Been? Its release independent of any label suggests the duo are now formally in control of themselves and free from any commercial obligation they may have ever felt pressured by.
A fourth track, 'And With This Comes' kicks in and as the familiar strums of the guitar play lazily along, I ease gently into the album. It's an almost inaudible track, that comes and goes in a blink of an eye but seemingly leaves its lonely echoing mark in the listeners heart. Whilst dabbling in an odd feeling of contented abandonment there is an element about the music that leaves a poignant sting of salty tears in your eyes, sends a shiver of ice cold down your spine and throughout your body. The songs that follow are just echoes, distant hummings or swells of thought conjured by the duo since the album, 'Howl'.
On ' A Twisted State' an old guitar takes lead once more, the second of only two appearances on the record, along a steady line of finger picking, also reminiscent from the days of their third album. This is seen in its bluesy plod, evocative of 'Gospel Song' and carrying itself as well as 'Restless Sinner'.
It's a dark album but a mature idea that brings belated recognition for the group and many to congratulate the duo on sampling something new. These tracks appear like general musings from the band whilst on the road, music to fill a space between shows and locations. As each song asks you to stop and think, it also evokes you leave the dry and dusty life of 9-5 and plays with your desire to throw some clothes in a bag and head out yonder.
'The Effects of 333' work this way. First with a level of intrigue, second confusion and lastly understanding. The album becomes everything in your head, in my head, the person sitting at the next table. It's the sound your conscious would make, every electrode and pulse and signal. It's the million people talking at once, and the scarring silence of loneliness. The cold of heartbreak and the warmth of hope. Personally it's an album that comes from the mind of it's creators more than the heart, from trying to understand what is going on inside and putting it all in a place where it makes sense. You are forced to relate to the music logically because emotionally it's too intense.
If hitting this album in one go seems daunting, I would still insist on doing so. Resist the urge to set your ipod to 'random', listen to the musics in there entirety and in the order the band intended them to be played, only then mix the instrumentals with the lyrical songs and see the way the puzzle joins together.
The album is personal, almost uncomfortably so. It seems new territory for the band, sound and vision having been created from a place we hadn't been allowed to venture before. Some parts of the songs are quite raw, unusual and I can feel in my gut the anxious twist of laying all you have inside you, out there for everyone to see and criticize. I think this is remarkable feat from two incredibly quiet and private musicians whose music means so much more to them now than it did at the beginning.
www.blackrebelmotorcycleclub.com
photo by Tessa Angus
www.tessaangus.com
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