There have been various iterations of Rothko over the last twenty-five years or so and one of the most dynamic involved the input of Johny Brown and James Stephen Finn of The Band Of Holy Joy.
Their 2016 album release A Young Fist Curled Round A Cinder For A Wager was a startling journey through a hard Northern life, the ups and downs of the protagonist rendered in vivid detail by Johny and then instrumentally brought to life by Mark Beazley and James. It gave Rothko a new lease of life and certainly seems to have been mutually beneficial, with Mark undertaking duties in the touring Band Of Holy Joy.
At the invitation of Lo Recordings‘ Gavin O’Shea, they played a set as a three-piece in November 2022 and, by good fortune, were captured by sound engineer Harry Laughlin. The result has been released on Trace Recordings and is essential as a document of the live experience of that very visceral line-up.Of the seven tracks here, three come from the Cinder album and the others are fresh, certainly to these ears. This live situation captured with great clarity is a perfect opportunity to hear a different perspective of the group, with the opening instrumental passage a melancholic taster for the select few, the aches of feedback washing through the State51 building.
There is a real vibrancy and momentum to the occasion. Mark’s bass just sounds delicious on “The Mainline Landscape Of My Youth” and Johny takes this opportunity to really act out the words. Live, his voice is a little wilder as if telling the story is evoking difficult memories, and this agitation in turn causes Mark and James to lean harder on the instruments, to dig a little deeper. In places, particularly on “Drug Virgin”, there is a post-punk stridency to the enunciated bass and the swathes of swirling guitar. Johny’s voice is ever-immediate recounting the awkward and uncomfortable, and as the emotion of the voice increases, so the lift-shaft amplification of the guitar groans in sympathy.The guitar fireworks that James sets off are at odds with the structure and shape of the bass and in some places sound as if a great gate is being shut in the distance. Thanks to the humanity of Johny’s exhortations, the listener is placed right in the middle of these intimate situations as good things are snatched rudely away, replaced by deconstructed noise, the words moving constantly, searching in forgotten corners, dredging up skeletons and throwing them warts and all in the welcoming lap of the crowd.
On final track “Sometimes You Just Know”, the vocal delivery is pushed by the lovingly built wall of distortion and is kind of sweet compared to the sonic barrage. He surfs the wash of sound, vibrato-laden, and allows his inner diva to surface, ignoring the strings as they try to drag him down. It is a dramatic and fitting conclusion to an experience that, judging by the enthusiastic audience response, was quite the treat.It seems to have been a one-off, so for those who were not fortunate enough to attend, this is a brief glimpse into a world both magical and disturbing.
-Mr Olivetti-
