Da abissi meno raccapriccianti sale Anything Near Water (Amphetamine Reptile, 1995), in parte per via di una miglior produzione e in parte perche' le armonie spigolose di Comeback Thrusday sono in minoranza rispetto a tentativi come Bad Things di rifondare la ballad, e questi portano all'approccio persino melodico di Weightless e Lemonade, canzoni agonizzanti che pure trovano un loro equilibrio psichico nella stessa estrema tensione che rischia di dilaniarle. La trance marziale di JJ Slow e Wash condensa l'innovazione in un genere altamente drammatico, che sia grunge psichedelico o slo-core rumoristico.

Relocated to Los Angeles, the band recorded another psychological nightmare and abyss of melancholy paranoia, A Taste For Bitters (Amphetamine Reptile, 1997). Standout tracks Days Of Nothing, Ghosts, Narrow and Ruin Your Day merge the apocalyptic fury of Midwestern punk bands with Nick Drake's agonizing folk ballads.

In many ways, Black Black (Boomba, 1998) could be their best album, or at least the album that best defines their ideology (the lengthy The Rest Of Your Evening, one of their live favorites, Speed Of Sound, The Perfect Date, Alaska).

The EP Strange Lines (Redwood, 2001) fares much better, thanks to two psychedelic rockets like Sections and Be Forceful.

Troy Bruno Balthazar's first solo album is the humble collection of lo-fi ballads Sweet Receiver (2001).

It's A Miracle (Pale Blue, 2002) mostly sounds like a solo project by Troy Bruno Balthazar in the role of the introverted songwriter (Person You Chose, Geneva) and occasionally returns to a noisy band sound (She Flew Alone). Chokebore's pieces are slowly but steadily becoming well-formed ballads, thereby abandoning the loose, free-form, eccentric format of their early days. At the same time, the tenuous "slo-core" of the early days is returning to a more traditional style of story-telling.

Se sei interessato a tradurre questo testo, contattami