Het is niet omdat een song bij me binnenkomt, dat ik een héél album aanvoel. Het is niet omdat ik wild ben van een album, dat een volgende van diezelfde band me raakt. Ik ben dus zelden of nooit écht wat je een fan kan noemen: ik ben helemaal niet trouw en neem het van release tot release.
Zo was ik helemaal mee met Vital, terwijl nature morte me niet kon bekoren. Dit minimalistische, bezwerende, chaotische, noisy I felt a funeral kan me opnieuw boeien. Waarom? Geen idee, het is een gevoel, een momentopname en zo blijf ik deze eigenzinnige Canadezen volgen.
A Chaos Of Flowers verschijnt op 19 april 2024 via Thrill Jockey
Lees
"i felt a funeral" borrows from the poetry of Emily Dickinson, BIG|BRAVE embodying the inner turmoil of her words with a bold mixture of frothing chords, arcs of bending drones, delicate brushwork, and guitarist/vocalist Robin Wattie's resolute voice.
On the creation of the video, guitarist Mathieu Ball notes, "The making of this video employed a similar process as we do when writing music. As we’ve learned to let the flow of ideas take its course, the act of creating works whether with fully formed concepts or an unfinished notion, starting the work itself acts as a sort of guide to where the final outcome may land. We realised that something more visually minimal than what we first imagined was the way to go." By using a single-take that loosely follows Wattie's movements, with moments of imperfection, lost focus, and fluctuations in lighting, "the performer (Robin) and the audience both partake in this visual and aural conversation together creating a more intimate visual space. The audience is led in and out of her intimate space all while being kept at safe distance. Paired with the lyrical content, it can be considered an apt representation of the elements of mental collapse - a simplified visual dance with the inner and outside world."
BIG|BRAVE’s music has been described as massive minimalism. Their fusillades of textural distortion and feedback emphasise their music’s frayed edges as much as its all-encompassing weight. The potency of the trio’s work is their singular artistry combining elements of traditional folk techniques and a modern deconstruction of guitar music. Gain, feedback, and amplitude are essential to A Chaos Of Flowers, an album that builds on their ferocious 2023 album nature morte.
Lyrically, the songs explore the most vulnerable of human experiences, how marginalisations manifest internally and externally, the inner struggles of isolation, and co-existence in nature. A Chaos of Flowers draws on catharsis and beauty as well as the quagmire of disorientation and othering. The album is a monument of simultaneous serenity and disquiet, a subtle maelstrom of internal life.
