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Jenks Miller and Nicholas Szczepanik, "American Gothic"
While Jenks Miller has his hand in a multitude of Chapel Hill bands, his Tony Iommi meets Tony Conrad metal project Horseback has received the most notoriety as of late. However, on this collaboration with the relatively new drone composer Nicholas Szczpanik, there isn't a riff to be found. Instead the two weave together seamlessly expansive ranges of tonal and textural sound into an album that travels through the darkness and into the light multiple times.
Both artists are often labeled "drone" by critics and writers, with Miller putting his own spin on Sunn O)))'s monolithic riffing, and Szczpanik creating expansive, sparse tonal works that aren't afraid to drift into dissonant noise territory.I would argue that this description is too simplistic based upon this album, however.While certain tones and motifs are allowed to stretch out for long periods, such as the tinnitus-inducing frequencies of "A Private Life," or repetitive church melodies of "White Light," there is always a large amount of movement and variation going on around them, such as the digital music box melodies and radio static crunch of the former.
"White Light" goes even further, shaping raw noises into icy winds, coupled with a slow and simple ritualistic drum beat.The sound eventually explodes into full on walls of harsh noise, but paired with a symphonic wall of synths to wonderful effect.This combination of beautiful tone with ugly noise also defines the closer, "Cranberry Sauce," which is initially soaring, high pitched shimmering textures and light, warm drones, but eventually met with an undercurrent of static that soon rises to an equal volume level, putting the pastoral ambient tones with violent wall noise, almost symbolizing light versus dark, or good versus evil.For most of the piece the two stay on equal footing, but a blast of noise dominates the last few seconds before the album’s abrupt ending.So, dark triumphs over light at the last second…that's rather metal.
Other pieces are less dramatic and more pensive, meditative studies upon sound."Sin Killers" is all submerged screeches and squelches over hollow, echoed rattles and buzzing drones with dark organ swells."Ossuary Dub" is more glacial rather than dark, with cold electronic walls of sound matched with echoed and processed terse percussion.I'm assuming the title is a nod to one of the remixes on Painkiller's Execution Ground set from the mid '90s, and while they're attempting little of the grindcore blast jazz from that album, the music feels like it could definitely be inspired by the deconstructed, icy remix the track is named for.
With as much as I write about albums in the genre, "drone" and "minimalist" (in the modern sense) is really past the point of saturation.With so many projects, especially from the metal side of the world trying to carve out their place, it becomes hard to separate the cream from the crap.This definitely rises to the top, however, because of both its actual sonic components and its powerfully effective composition.The minimalism is more in the classic sense, and the structures of each piece avoid the pitfall of simply repeating the same sound for long periods.American Gothic is a brilliant collaboration and worthy of being hoisted into the top experimental albums of the year, easily.
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