Fox Millions Duo – Biting Through

Thrill Jockey

The bringing together of two serial collaborating drummers can only be a good thing, and when they have the pedigree of Oneida‘s Kid Millions and Uniform‘s Greg Fox, we must be in for a treat. Greg plays drums on Biting Through, but he also concentrates on creating a synthesized backdrop for each of the six drum-crazy tracks appearing on the album.

The dizzying, nauseating electronics of opener “Biting Through” accompany a slow, staggering drumbeat that is chock-full of ungainly fills that really make you marvel at his inner rhythm. The drums are kind of fat and soft, and along with the churning electronics, it sounds as though Kid Millions is hiding in a box while Greg attacks the outside with an army of whining, wheezing keyboards.

Whatever Greg throws at Kid though, he is able to maintain his equanimity, sticking to his rigorous work-out and his idiosyncratic inner metronome like glue. At times, following his beats is akin to chasing somebody into a thick forest: the person you are pursuing knows exactly where they are going, but you are at a loss as branches swing out at you, tree stumps leer up from the floor, and birds and beasts dive-bomb you. There is a rustle and flash ahead and a change of direction that finds you staggering for grip.

The soundscapes meanwhile are changing as the tracks pass by, moving from futuristic, metallic-sounding walls of noise on “Clasp”, through oddly Eastern sitar-based vibes on “Nine Years Facing A Wall” right through to the rain soaked paranoia of “The Gulf”. Here, the drums are silkier, but it is all taking place in some terribly flooded streets where all you can see when you look out of the window is streams of rain. It feels as though the world has turned wet and can no longer retain structure.

This is an impressive game of cat and mouse that the duo has constructed and the more you play the album, the more details you can differentiate. Final track “Be” is the one piece where the electronics don’t try to disrupt the drumming. There is a calmness here, with a spacey drone allowing a touch of relaxation before the album ends, and you have a chance to take a breath and reconfigure your rhythmic impulses for the rest of the day.

-Mr Olivetti-