James Johnston – Hassan Falls To His Death

Trestle

When James Johnston releases a solo album, it is really difficult to know what to expect. To my knowledge, this is his very first solo album. Being a bluesy rock star front man of Gallon Drunk, guitar hero in Lydia Lunch’s Big Sexy Noise, or session and live musician with The Bad Seeds is only one side of this multi-talented Englishman. Collaborating with Philippe Petit, and a couple of years as part of the line-up of Faust, has also proved him very capable of staying at the experimental-improv side of musical things as well.

So when I first played Hassan Falls To His Death, and at first heard his blues harp, I thought for an instance that this is not so unexpected. But then, only for a few seconds. The record moves quickly into dark spooky soundscapes, as created in dark isolated parts of an abandoned city, and has parts with atonal sounds as well as feedback to spice the overall impression. Johnston has also created soundtracks for a couple of movies, and some parts of this record prove his ability to that genre, although for the most part, he creates wonderful sad images all by his own.

The first few tracks move slowly, occasionally helped by a blues harp, and cries of feedback scream protests of the sadness of it all. The title track is also very slow and sad, telling a story of Hassan (I imagine, as the record is all instrumental), creating slow motion images in my mind of how he falls, and makes me wonder why… Other tracks are more playful, and especially the last track which I first found hard keeping on one focal point, but when letting myself free up a bit, it was easier to join the ride.

The tracks range from composed to improvisations, from distinct use of organ or strings to distorted guitar or other use of effects and feedback, from layers of minor chords to sound-fiddling, minimal or even pompous. The result is quite surprising. The combination of the blues harp, sometimes looped or heavily delayed, and soft organ, harsh noise, the darkish ambient sounds, astral-space-brutal feedback and beautiful sad strings creates an uncompromising album. Johnston seems to be saying he is not giving a damn about what to expect, and let me play with sounds the way I like. Songs or no songs. Like it if you like.

I did.

-Ronny Wærnes-