Locust Fudge is a duo comprising Schneider TM‘s Dirk Dresselhaus and his old Sharon Stoned compadre Christopher Uhe. It seems they last put an LP out about twenty years ago, after which Dirk concentrated on the gradual and rather elegant electronic deconstructivism of Schneider TM.
Rather like the Julie’s Haircut album Invocation And Ritual Dance Of My Demon Twin from last year, Locust Fudge throw everything into the mix for the opening track, the eleven-minute guitar blast “Light And Grace”. Guitars chime, the bass and drums drive the song in a fairly relentless manner as tickles of xylophone accompany a Bill Callahan-like flat, cool delivery. The hypnotic hard-driving rhythm brings to mind the best of what guitar bands had to offer in the nineties, but with a touch of motorik groove that sits squarely in the Teutonic camp. Added to all that, after the harmonics-filled breakdown that occurs halfway through, J Mascis lets loose with one of his narrative guitar solos. The energy is almost palpable here as the song is pushed and stressed to its limits, guitars howling and groaning over the steamroller rhythm. The last two minutes are sheer chaos as all the instruments descend into free-fall, battling one another as they approach the end. It is quite a breath-taking start to the album and there is no way that such momentum could be maintained.
Thankfully, the band don’t even try to replicate the opening salvo and instead things take a turn for the wonkily exotic on the second track “Come On In”. Here, guitar assistance is lent by Chris Brokaw, hugely influential player from Codeine, Come, The New Year, etc, and the spindly figures that he plays couldn’t be more different. The song has a Pram-like vibe with its gentle, swelling bass and simple but curious keyboard motifs that dominate the sound. Nasal vocals delivering poetic lyrics complete the sum and the whole thing sways like a dream in a breeze and is a lovely antidote to the previous track.Over the next eight tracks, there are similarities to Urusei Yatsura on the bass-heavy Sonic Youth-inspired ‘No Defense”, its cute female vocals and blast of tasty and vibrant freak saxophone lending plenty to draw it out of the shadows of its influences. However, it is not all about the guitar, as “Mine Be Thy Love” is a slow and melancholy piano led piece that swings with a late night Midnight Choir kind of vibe. The shimmering cymbals and swooning trumpet adding texture that flits in the background like motes of dust in the setting sun.
There is further adventures ahead, with the big angry bass and fiery, fuzzy guitar of “Something’s Wrong”. “I am gonna get rid of my money / Gonna get rid of my body and lose a lot of things”; the voice is different here and the track is dense and humid, with barely any room to breathe. The saxophone lends a little space, but descends from under a veil of noise to try and lead the track forward. The next track, with its refrains “All we are is love” and “I promise we shall be released”, has a sweet air of positivity and subtlety that leaks into a track of Dylan Thomas‘s words from “Do Not Go Gentle” set to music. “Rage against the dying of the light”, we are urged, the lines being jammed into the song with an urgency that suits the lyrics. Final track “Oscillation” has a touch of Mark Linkous in the yearning vocals, laid over a detuned slo-mo grunge sound, the bass so deep and elastic it seems to be coming from a sun-dappled cavern, sweet female backing vocals layered over the top. “This is the end of yin and yang”, we are told, and to a certain extent this is very fitting appearing at the end of the album. There is darkness and light spread across the contents of this collection of songs, and although they come from a guitar-influenced place, there is enough variety and texture for it to come across really well.For this to be the first album in twenty years from a band on indefinite hiatus is an impressive feat. Perhaps the slow gestation (the process was started in 2015) means that only the best ideas were given opportunity, but whatever the recipe, the end result is a really fine collection of songs. It will be interesting to see if the band is put back into hibernation or if this is the start of something more permanent.
-Mr Olivetti-
