Highlights: Barbara Anne, Jesus In The Courtyard, My Mother Was
The Moon, Lorraine
I most certainly enjoyed
King Dude’s debut album from last year, but equally I found it somewhat hard to
concentrate: Love just sounded like
Death In June. And I would be okay with that – the problem was, it sounded too much like Death In June. While the
aesthetics largely remain the same on Burning
Daylight (darkness, more darkness and an acoustic guitar), T.J. Cowgill did
something about his voice: suddenly it’s all brutal, rough, chesty – in fact,
very much like a Satanic version of Timber Timbre (which I don’t really mind).
No, I wouldn’t say that the songs are better than those he recorded for his
debut, but I welcome the change.
After an obligatory
(though unnecessary) introduction, we get straight into it: the noisy and
effective “Holy Land” is perfectly summarized by the album’s cover. It’s that sort of Holy Land. Then comes the
murderous, morose ballad attractively titled “Barbara Anne”. A simple,
repetitive guitar rhythm and a simple, repetitive vocal melody – and yet I’m
absolutely mesmerized. The rest is more of the same, and it’s all good. The
cold, sinister groove of “Jesus In The Courtyard”, the black, psychedelic,
smoothly sung dream-pop of “My Mother Was The Moon” (a bit like Damien Youth at
his best), the sweet and fucked up “Lorraine”, the deceptively uplifting closer
“Lord I’m Coming Home” (you can imagine the lyrics) which is like Johnny Cash
singing for the dead.
Overall, this is very
lovely folk music given a doomed, Gothic, ugly makeover. Burning Daylight is a relatively short album, clocking in under 34
minutes. However, with the mood so intensely miserable you will feel you’ve
heard enough. I guess if I saw this one lying in a record store, I would just
ignore it. And would be wrong. Never mind the stupid fonts that belong in an
unimaginative death metal album – this is just great, well-written music. Neofolk
or whatever it’s called. Listening to it is a bit like being lost in the woods at night and actually enjoying it.
8/10
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