Search - Body Lovers :: Number One of Three

A sequence of nightmares & dreams

Pieter | Johannesburg | 11/13/2000

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The Body Lovers was Michael Gira's first project following the dissolution of Swans. The 73-minute ambientesque excursion from 1998 traverses the most extraordinary aural realms in its meandering through alternately soothing, spooky, soulful, depressing, uplifting & inspiring soundscapes. Industrial passages alternate with swirling symphonic textures but often a particular movement incorporates widely disparate elements like mechanical drones that give way to traditional instruments that fade in turn for solo segments. The word "movement" is more apt than "track" since the album is one continuous piece uninterrupted by its superficial division into 10 tracks, although these are helpful for describing the chronological progression.



The first & longest one is a wall of sound integrating polyphonic drones, synthesizers & stringed instruments plus the ghostly hint of choral vocals which may be samples or synthetic constructions. The initial chimes and accordion of the next movement are startlingly disturbed by Jarboe's sobbing which sounds uncomfortably authentic and quite harrowing; upon its cessation the track turns pastoral with an acoustic guitar playing a simple melody accompanied by flute. On the 4th movement, the chiming pattern is interrupted by drumming at a tempo so rapid that it resembles machine gun fire. Insect-like noises occur frequently throughout. To me they sound mechanical although Jarboe is credited on the sleeve notes with "trapped insect vocal."



Characterized by rising & falling patterns & undulating rhythms, the music occasionally resembles the work of experimentalists like Popol Vuh, especially their album Brüder des Schattens - Söhne des Lichts, Throbbing Gristle, Can, Psychic TV, Michael Nyman, Tangerine Dream and Peter Baumann but the overall nature is quite unique, in particular certain singular sounds never & nowhere heard before. Sometimes a familiar spectrum of Swans sounds is discernable as in the 5th movement which reflects Jarboe's spectral vocals on the oneiric or ethereal pieces such as In My Garden from Children of God, Song for Dead Time from White Light from the Mouth of Infinity, and Dream Dream & A Mystery of Faith from Ten Songs for Another World.



I would not call the music "dark ambient" as it contains episodes of tranquility and outbursts of exultation. The profusion of voice samples includes a Yippy Hi Hey chant and the wailing of a baby (during circumcision as the sleeve notes obligingly inform us) on the penultimate track where the only singing occurs as Gira drawls a few world-weary lines in half-spoken vocals. When measured against the entire Swans oeuvre this album comes closest to Soundtracks for the Blind in their shared devotion to the drone but it moves much deeper into uncharted areas "where be dragons." The instruments include accordion, bells, Celtic harp, dulcimer, drums, percussion, acoustic & electric guitars, flugelhorn & harmonica but except during the aforementioned acoustic interludes, they are seldom individually discernable in the mix. Number One of Three is a challenging work that grows on you; it took me 10 years to fully appreciate it.

"

Some of the most evilest s#!t I've ever heard...

Noel Pratt | Washington, D.C., and better places | 06/15/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"...to do a Frank Zappa vernacular on it. Gira, let's face it, is a genius. Track 1 here is a true "halo of flies" that creates more menace than anything by Univers Zero, Shub-Niggurath, or anyone else. Spookier stuff on the whole album than any Industrial I've heard, including the good Industrial (Current 93). The first time you hear track 9 your system goes into shock. After that you can never avoid carrying the anticipatory dread with you as you approach it. I think it's the most disturbing "slice" of sound I have on disc, and only Gira had the balls to do it. Yeah, the puns... This is what we do to men, the disposable sex (see Warren Farrell), and there's the balance of Jarboe's tears earlier. Someone may not like this statement but, to me, this is the logical progression of Swans after SOUNDTRACKS-- , only maybe they would be called Swine, as the wonderful cover art suggests. It's as if you told Primus to get serious or else get put on the hamburger train, and Les took the hint, and a downer, and this was the result. Body Haters is only a little more abstract in overall effect, but here there is more horror, more meat on the bones of the Body. More to hate, more to love...what love is always actually doing when you don't know the fine line between love and hate. Transmuting nature. Evil -- when one really glimpses/reaches it -- is very pure in the vision of this highly intelligent artist. And he was intelligent enough to save himself, whether by love or by the hate-songs, and to keep refining his product into art. This is endarkenment. This should be the true soundtrack to author Thomas Ligotti's "darkness.""