Review Summary: All the fun of the circus...
When an artist names some of the fundamental elements upon which their musical creation is based as being “artistic ambition, a love of the avant-garde and an unwholesome obsession with the destruction of the status quo”, it certainly incites a very high level of expectation. Fortunately in the case of Little-Blood this promise is backed up by material that boasts an inherent sense of experimentation and more than its fair share of adventure.
Little-Blood, the project of multi-instrumentalist Alfie Killick, is one of a number of similarly forward-thinking music projects that form the
Bone Marrow Music Collective; a group of like-minded musicians who aren’t afraid to push their musical ambition to extremity.
Coagulate, the first album to emerge under the Little-Blood moniker, is somewhat difficult to categorise (much like other Bone Marrow projects such as Ink Siblings and Thunder Master…), falling somewhere between avant-prog and alt rock. In addition to Killick the album also features the talents of drummer Jareau Deer who provides a solid percussive backdrop for Killick’s own instrumentation, managing to keep the whole thing nailed down as tightly as necessary.
The atmospheric
Oneironaut opens the album in a relatively subdued manner, easing the listener into what will become a much more frenetic affair. The album’s atmosphere combined with its constantly shifting mood changes is one of
Coagulate’s strongest aspects and is exemplified by the album’s centrepiece,
Antichrist Nights. Combining heavy, guitar driven instrumentation and dense, tension-building atmosphere, interspersed occasionally with brief moments of ambience,
Antichrist Nights twists and turns without ever sounding disjointed. However, despite its frequently changing mood and tempo, the song is actually one of the album’s more refined and structured pieces, elsewhere songs such as the instrumental
Wet Tail are much looser in structure allowing for more adventure with regards to musicianship, an area where Killick excels. As for Killick’s vocals, which feature with varying degree of prominence on four of the albums seven tracks, it would be apt to say that his vocal delivery gets the job done without going over and above that. They are however particularly effective for the brief time they are used on the albums penultimate track,
All The Fun Of The Circus, fitting, or rather dictating, the mood of the song perfectly.
Stylistically
Coagulate is hard to pin down; there are strong influences from the likes of Frank Zappa and jazz fusion artists such as Herbie Hancock and also from some of the jazzier and more avant-garde 70’s prog acts such as King Crimson and Gentle Giant. Overall however, the album has more of a contemporary feel to it, at times recalling the more creative moments of Subterranean Masquerade’s
Suspended Animation Dreams (without the awkwardly transitioned death metal parts, that is) whilst also displaying a very pronounced nod to experimental rockers Cardiacs, the latter influence being particularly prevalent during the albums heavier and more chaotic sections, while the former relates more to the albums atmospheric qualities.
Further enhancing
Coagulate’s unique atmosphere is its artwork, which isn’t just limited to the cover art as each individual song has its own visual accompaniment, all of which has been created by Killick himself, reflecting the feel and characteristics of each song and of the album overall. Add to this the often bizarre surreality of the albums lyrics together with the albums main driving force, which is its bold musicianship, and you get a wholly engrossing and intriguing work.
Coagulate displays much promise for future Little-Blood material and also for other ventures from Killick and the
Bone Marrow Collective in general which will no doubt continue to offer much entertainment through its musical creations.
