BNNT - Middle West
| Comments: | Disappointing in the least. |
| Artist: | BNNT |
| Rating: | |
| Genres: | Experimental Rock Drone, Post-Industrial |
| Released: | 2019 |
| Type: | Album |
| Label: | Instant Classic |
| Link: | Bandcamp |
Their endeavors throughout the decade have constantly aimed at escaping any kind of labeling, covering a wide area between sight and sound. One could partake in this experience at such extremes of the artistic spectrum as theater festivals; sonic guerilla street events; sound installations in museums, from Łódź to NYC; concerts, both as part of the broadly defined dance music scene as well as those attracting free jazz aficionados; and, on top of it all, movie screenings. In 2019, through the Multiversions (multiversions.bandcamp.com) project, BNNT handed the ownership of their own band over to other musicians, accompanied by an announcement of its dissolution into potentially existing parallel universes. With such long striking distance coupled with wide stylistic range, even a vague definition of the duo’s uniform image might prove rather difficult to define. The term ‘duo’ itself is not entirely accurate, given the countless collaborations with other artists. The common denominator for such volcanic activity could be the MASK the musicians invariably wear onstage. Each of the consecutive Multiverse projects recorded by friendly musicians may also be considered a mask, as can every single album released by the band, each one significantly different from the predecessors in terms of genre affiliation. With each release, a different mask could be seen: the noise-rock rendition of 2012, the avant-hip-hop period (in cooperation with Robert Piernikowski), followed by a stoner rock-ish LP (Multiverse), and the experimental Multiversions. Towards the end of 2019, BNNT have unexpectedly put on yet another mask. Their new album, Middle West, is released on InstantClassic label....
This time, it’s more in the vein of a radio play, rather than the usual song list. ‘Sung poetry’ could be an equally accurate label, just like the ‘concept album’ moniker. BNNT offer the audience a set of 5 songs, combined together by a single poem covering the entire duration of the album. This work of poetry is A Letter to Europe by Athena Farrokhzad, heavily modified, with the author’s consent, to fit the requirements of an album. The intrusive treatment of the original text is justified by its strongly rhythmical structure, rich in stutter-like repetition. The poem by the Swedish Iranian writer is also inspired by Allen Ginsberg’s 1956 America. What we are dealing with here is a multilevel mutation of the text and the music, similarly oscillating around a few simple rhythmic structures. These mutating repetitions are reflected by the cover art of the album, using shots of Agnieszka Grodzińska’s Playground for Sheep installation. Apart from the literary and musical aspects of the album, this is another reference to the aforementioned issues. The brutal roughness of raw building materials and reinforcing wires creates delicate, even rickety, grid-like forms. Similar repetition and roughness can be observed in terms of lyrics and music.
Grodzińska and Farrokhzad aren’t the only guest artists on the album. Vocals were recorded by Jaśmina Polak, an actress from Warsaw’s Nowy Teatr (‘New Theater’), while guitar and bass parts are performed by Łukasz Rychlicki who also recorded the ARP Odyssey synthesizer tracks. The songs wouldn’t be complete without Mateusz Rychlicki’s additional drum set. The whole album was recorded in a number of locations, at different times, making the list of people involved in this project that much longer. BNNT seem to in order to create a ‘wolf pack’ associated with the duo’s activities by implementing the same mechanisms they used while writing multi-layered music associated with almost mechanically repeated rhythms. The tribal nature of the music on Middle West provides a much darker and colder ambiance than in the case of Multiverse, mostly due to particular sound engineering efforts resulting in taking the warmth off of the natural drum reverberation as well as the processing of vocal parts. Apparently, the vocal recording sessions included a forced, semi-violent treatment of the singer’s body.
We have now arrived at the second permanent tier of BNNT’s Creative Process. Fear, anger and cruelty are combined here with the beauty of communality. Despite the stylistic differences, these features are to be found on all of the band’s albums, from their debut based on quotes from newspaper headlines, to the relativistic Multiverse and Multiversions, to Middle West, their latest effort. Moreover, the new record is much more outspoken politically which is achieved via direct, confrontational approach. Athena’s redacted poem retains its grievance and anger towards a culture we ourselves contribute to, intentionally or not, and with which, despite being part of it, it is difficult for us to identify. Thus, waves of unsatisfied longing for lost relationship with the tribe are triggered. Therefore, not only is the album’s title a bitter reproach for the conceited geographical determinism of the Europeans, but it is also an insult to their belief in their own superiority. MIDDLE , understood as ‘medium’, ‘so-so’, ‘underdeveloped’, is juxtaposed with WEST, culturally almost synonymous with ‘THE BEST’, a perfectly illustration of which could be the map based on Gall-Peters projection. The real sizes of countries and continents could also be used as the source of musical references by BNNT, the band.
released November 13, 2019
This time, it’s more in the vein of a radio play, rather than the usual song list. ‘Sung poetry’ could be an equally accurate label, just like the ‘concept album’ moniker. BNNT offer the audience a set of 5 songs, combined together by a single poem covering the entire duration of the album. This work of poetry is A Letter to Europe by Athena Farrokhzad, heavily modified, with the author’s consent, to fit the requirements of an album. The intrusive treatment of the original text is justified by its strongly rhythmical structure, rich in stutter-like repetition. The poem by the Swedish Iranian writer is also inspired by Allen Ginsberg’s 1956 America. What we are dealing with here is a multilevel mutation of the text and the music, similarly oscillating around a few simple rhythmic structures. These mutating repetitions are reflected by the cover art of the album, using shots of Agnieszka Grodzińska’s Playground for Sheep installation. Apart from the literary and musical aspects of the album, this is another reference to the aforementioned issues. The brutal roughness of raw building materials and reinforcing wires creates delicate, even rickety, grid-like forms. Similar repetition and roughness can be observed in terms of lyrics and music.
Grodzińska and Farrokhzad aren’t the only guest artists on the album. Vocals were recorded by Jaśmina Polak, an actress from Warsaw’s Nowy Teatr (‘New Theater’), while guitar and bass parts are performed by Łukasz Rychlicki who also recorded the ARP Odyssey synthesizer tracks. The songs wouldn’t be complete without Mateusz Rychlicki’s additional drum set. The whole album was recorded in a number of locations, at different times, making the list of people involved in this project that much longer. BNNT seem to in order to create a ‘wolf pack’ associated with the duo’s activities by implementing the same mechanisms they used while writing multi-layered music associated with almost mechanically repeated rhythms. The tribal nature of the music on Middle West provides a much darker and colder ambiance than in the case of Multiverse, mostly due to particular sound engineering efforts resulting in taking the warmth off of the natural drum reverberation as well as the processing of vocal parts. Apparently, the vocal recording sessions included a forced, semi-violent treatment of the singer’s body.
We have now arrived at the second permanent tier of BNNT’s Creative Process. Fear, anger and cruelty are combined here with the beauty of communality. Despite the stylistic differences, these features are to be found on all of the band’s albums, from their debut based on quotes from newspaper headlines, to the relativistic Multiverse and Multiversions, to Middle West, their latest effort. Moreover, the new record is much more outspoken politically which is achieved via direct, confrontational approach. Athena’s redacted poem retains its grievance and anger towards a culture we ourselves contribute to, intentionally or not, and with which, despite being part of it, it is difficult for us to identify. Thus, waves of unsatisfied longing for lost relationship with the tribe are triggered. Therefore, not only is the album’s title a bitter reproach for the conceited geographical determinism of the Europeans, but it is also an insult to their belief in their own superiority. MIDDLE , understood as ‘medium’, ‘so-so’, ‘underdeveloped’, is juxtaposed with WEST, culturally almost synonymous with ‘THE BEST’, a perfectly illustration of which could be the map based on Gall-Peters projection. The real sizes of countries and continents could also be used as the source of musical references by BNNT, the band.
released November 13, 2019
Editions:
2019
Original Release
Instant Classic
| CLASSIC079
| CD/Digital/Vinyl
| 01. | Filth and Mud | (6:26) | |
| 02. | Middle West [Through The Grave] | (2:42) | |
| 03. | Imagine you are falling but there is no ground | (21:24) | |
| 04. | Queer Shoulder | (15:26) | |
| 05. | Through The Grave | (10:17) |