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English quartet
These New Puritans, fronted by Jack Barnett,
explored a wealth of styles
with synthesizer and sampler
on Beat Pyramid (2008), harking back to the new wave of the
late 1970s (notably Wire,
Gang Of Four and
Fall),
while fast forwarding to the dance styles of the 2000s.
The obvious limitation of the album is that most pieces are not songs but
just fragments.
The lush Hidden (Domino, 2010), featuring a 13-piece orchestra, marked
a quantum leap forward in ambition. It maintained the passion for rhythms
derived from modern and ancient dance music but removed the vitriolic
attitude and added a melancholy neoclassical element.
The mournful bassoon-driven chamber adagio Time Xone
announces a doom concept that the seven-minute tribal exorcism and funereal
fanfare We Want War transposes into a multi-faceted territory of
heavy-metal riffs, church-operatic choirs and frenzied African drumming.
dejected rap of Three Thousand harpsichord
Jazzy piano phrases and minimalist repetition surface in Hologram to
prop up a Canterbury-style prog-rock tune.
Bassoon and percussion clatter introduce Attack Music, in which an
indolent rap clashes with a rousing children's choir.
Fire-Power is the ultimate ritual dance, in which the vocals do little
more than repeat the same mantra over and over again (with a gloomy monk-like
choir in the background) while the "music" truly lies with the drums.
That ceremonial mood segues into Orion, whose core is represented by
a choral wordless line that meets a children's recitation at a
march-like pace reminiscent of In The Nursery.
Drum Courts - Where Corals Lie
is another tour de force for drummer George Barnett with the subtle
counterpoint of keyboardist Sophie Sleigh-Johnson.
The only thing that approaches a conventional song is the simpler
White Chords that finally lets Jack Barnett croon his ballad amid
evocative keyboards and a syncopated beat.
The instrumental 5 closes the song cycle with a chamber concerto of
minimalist repetition a` la
Philip Glass and
Steve Reich slowly submerged by the litany of
the horns and by angelic female voices.
This intricate puzzle of an album basically created an alternative liturgy.
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