THE BRACKISH - DONOR ZONE
Released in September 2023, Donor Zone
is the fifth album from Bristolean experimental rock quartet The Brackish. The imaginative
flair they demonstrated on their previous 2021 release on Halfmeltedbrain
Records, Atlas Day, has transferred successfully back to Stolen Body
Records, who released Firm But Fair in 2018. The twin guitar interplay of
Neil Smith and Luke Cawthra rests securely as always on the bedrock grooves and
transitional dexterity of bassist Jacob Tyghe and drummer Matt Jones. Jazz – the
broadest of musical churches – is a crucial ingredient, allowing the cohesion of
formal elements in four tracks that successfully combine longform composition
and improvisation.
The martial manoeuvres of opener ‘Willox for a
New Age’, conjure an atmosphere somewhere between John Zorn’s jazz noir concoctions
and the polyrhythmic convolutions of Henry Threadgill’s Very Very Circus. An initially
merry, if spiky, tone turns increasingly uneasy with each transition. This track
sets the pattern for the album as a series of musical bridges spanning
post-punk geometrics and the neo-psych textures of post-rock: challenging, yet
pleasantly listenable initially, then increasingly fraught with menace, then
concluding via some combination of satisfying climactic resolution or arcane
subtractive improvisatory logic.
The buzzing clouds of snare and
wonky bass of the title track suggest psych-dub spindrift out of Magical Power
Mako’s Bluedot period. A false ending reminiscent of something off the
second disc of Amon Düül II’s Dance of the Lemmings gradually has a
ghostly procession return to undergo its final dissolution.
There’s a subtle intricacy worthy of Tortoise or Aerial M going on in the suspenseful buildup of ‘J and J’. While the payoff riffola recalls the more goofalicious aspects of Frank Zappa’s ‘Sinister Footwear’ arrangements, its final climactic return elevates itself with redoubled intensity and some scorching fuzz solo work from Cawthra.
The final track ‘Buabb’ is a
paragon of the kind of stylistic contrast this foursome excels in. An Afrobeat
inspiration transudes the guitar-drum interplay with a light hypnotic bound that
builds towards an improvisatory section like some collision between Strictly
Personal-era Magic Band and the Nels Cline Trio at their most freeform and
frazzled. While there’s no shortage of moody passages on Donor Zone, there’s
also a light-hearted, absurdist quality that The Brackish share with labelmates
The Evil Usses. These groups operate on a scale of melodic engagement that’s
closer to fellow psych outfits like The Osees than the austere exploration
of just intonation and metrical intricacy that Horse Lords have made their métier.
The Brackish have hit upon an instrumental rock formula that’s scary enough to
provide frisson, but tuneful enough in their arty lunacy to attract a growing
audience. A horde of music-loving organisms can thrive in these salty waters.
Text (C) Copyright 2024 by Jon Kromka
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