The Forgiveness of Blunt Blade is a burden. The seven-track thing of the Minnesota multi-instrumentalist, I do not know what to call it, does not really belong anywhere. Progressive rock perhaps, electronic here and there, orchestral snips and snatches. Breaks barriers or simply disregards them.
Justified begins with this baritone voice, incantatory, kind of delivery, jagged electronic accents that come through. Establishes the mood–you know where you are with the first bars. Frank Zappa influence shows, Tool as well, some Radiohead in the way the atmospherics are constructed. Power in the manner it is put together such as a person who has listened to all of it over time.
The title song is ten and a half minutes long. Multi-movement structure, takes you through grief to anger, finally to something like tranquility but it is difficult to achieve. Vocal has this Bowie-like detachment to it, non-cold but distant. Recorded there presumably–produced, mixed, mastered there–which provides it with space, but retains this claustrophobic intimacy. Every part draws breath but the entire body crushes.
These suspended spaces are developed by “Hindrance” and “Careless Acts”. Not replies, mere reflection points suspended. The Bilingual thing, doubt built, and tinges of triumph, is done in The Journey to Hope / Esperanza. That tension, despair and salvation, is through the whole album without resolution.
Needs to be actively listened to and not music in the background. I guess it is psychological experience. Rewards long-suffering, punishes light mindedness. Dark, pensive, never tells you how or where you are. Grand everywhere, uncomfortable everywhere. Does not sound like much more at the moment.
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