Fabrizio Gilardino is the co-founder of & Records, along with Michael F. Côté (Bruire/Klaxon Geueule). Macsween, also recently heard on Fortner Anderson's excellent electro-acoustic poetry release, works mostly in Montreal hard rocking bands, and has also played with Frank Gratkowski. Bernard Falaise, a chameleon of a guitarist, is a member of Klaxon Gueule, has recorded solo and in various ensembles on the Ambiances Magnetique label, and is perhaps best known for his work with Miriodor. This project came together with the intention of replicating the tape loop structures of This Heat. In that they succeed, although in a quicker and more brutal manner than their prototype. The album was recorded in Montreal's Thee Might Hotel2Tango studio (Godspeed you Black Emperor) by Arcade Fire's drummer Howard Bilerman, which explains the rhythm heavy sound that results. That's appropriate to the ferocious output of this trio, as Macsween's drums push Falaise's raw guitar and Gilardino's tape and electronic work. The pieces are short, 18 tracks with the longest at 3:38, and nothing stays in one place too long. The timing is great, balancing the trio's violent aspects with artful or noise improv moments, from intensely powerful attacks to electro-acoustic creepiness. Muttered or distorted megaphone vocals, bizarre tape loops and sputtering static interact with all out guitar attacks or understated and mutated riffs, all pushed by strident drumming. It's layered and coherent, at times simply vicious, with an organic quality that pushes through the ringing delay and distortion of their bizarre sound world.

This album has been reviewed on our magazine:


The Squid's Ear!