Revbjelde – Amicus

Buried Treasure

For Revbjelde‘s long-awaited follow-up to 2020’s Hooha Hubub, Buried Treasure supremo and long-term Zyklus member Alan Gubby has been joined once again by Tim Hill on saxes and Peter Hope on vocals, as well as various other one-track guests.

Having listened to and enjoyed the recent Zyklus compilation, it is no surprise that the variety of styles utilised over these twelve pieces is pretty impressive and it helps that, although Alan plays most instruments here, Tim and Peter’s input is used sparingly, because their inputs really do change the mood.

The desire to merge styles and textures is apparent right from the off with “A Common Treasury” delighting with hypnotic zither set against the deep burr of bass, all washed along on a wave of subtle synth. Conversely, Tim’s baritone sax is anything but subtle, managing to conjure a kind of urban disgust that brings to mind John Zorn or Tim Hodgkinson’s work with God. It is that kind of angsty bellow that congeals with an ominous street scene of percussion and caverns of dubby grime.

In keeping with this, Peter’s voice is the thing of nightmares, the kind that dwells in the shadows, fuelling any doubts you might have; not through malice, but just because that’s the way the world is. On “Goose Chase” his growl entices with mysterious imagery that enjoys a post-punk swagger to lean upon.

Some pieces can seem scattered, prowling the darkening streets as sodium lights flicker as the search continues; it is city-centric, rarely escaping from the oppression; but when it does, as in the sunny panpipe surprise of “Like Dust Like Rain” or the calming eastern flute sojourn “Melange”, it is a fine reaction. Never enough to stem the tide though, and the hustling kinetic drums of “Limbic Assault” drive the feral strips of sax as the post-apocalyptic couple are “chewing on some fleshy morsel” and “revealing a smooth spine”, dwellers in obscurity whose plight unfolds in the distorted voice of a herald from some dystopian future; someone who wants to be proven wrong, but is always aware.

There is an industrial density that travels through “Fukko The Clown” and it echoes the sheer fury of the vocals. This track was originally on a lathe-cut 7″ single and I a surprised the biting anti-establishment despair didn’t burn right through the grooves. It batters the gates down with help from a surprising guitar solo that perhaps helps explain the diversity on offer here. I mean, Tim’s sax on the closing “Amicus” has a doomed romance to it, pushing the space synth groove of the previous track from your mind as you focus on the sense of spirit emerging that hints at a journey into the unknown.

This is an extraordinarily diverse album and a real treat to work right through, the more pastoral elements offsetting the bleaker passages; maybe it reflects life, and that is the goal of all good art.

-Mr Olivetti-