IT takes guts and guile to retain mystique these days, but thus far the aptly-named Canadian trio Big Brave have achieved just that. After spending a considerable time with their third long-player one suspects the members deem anything other than the impassioned noises they wrest from guitars, bass and drums mere trivia, perhaps even obstructive to the emotional messages carried by the three songs herein, which vary in length between 11 and a half and almost 15 minutes.
Big Brave share this gravity of purpose with fellow Montrealais musicians Godspeed You! Black Emperor, whose Efrim Menuck recorded Ardor’s predecessor, Au De La, and while cynics might think such an outlook humourless, believers will find succour in these gargantuan yet minimal songs.
Ardor lurches from beginning to end at a deathly pace with little by way of chordal or melodic variation – no bad thing when it’s as sonically gratifying as it is. Lull, for example, tilts at a drone update of Codeine or Madder Rose, while Borer’s tom-heavy blast evokes elements of late-period Swans before a five-minute outro that finds singer Robin Wattie chanting “I am the new/ And I am protected” over a gloriously furred guitar buzz gilded by wisps of violin. Essential, potent listening.
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