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Recoil : Unsound
Methods
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1. Incubus
2. Drifting 3. Luscious Apparatus 4. Stalker 5. Red River Cargo 6. Control Freak 7. Missing Piece 8. Last Breath 9. Shunt |
Alan Wilder's third full-length release under the banner of Recoil
(and his first since leaving Depeche Mode in 1995)
is his most complex, and musically versatile, to date. On Unsound
Methods, Wilder has not only incorporated elements of musical
genres such as jazz, blues, soul and trip-hop, he has also drawn extensively
on the aural world of film. It is a very dark album that explores the
shadow sides of human nature, as manifested in sexual obsession and
abuse, racism, schizophrenia and violence. In the vein of the previous
Recoil album -- Bloodline, Wilder has
again brought in a number of different vocalists to provide his compositions
with lyrics and song. The diverse roster this time includes Douglas
McCarthy (of Nitzer Ebb), Hildia Campbell,
Siobhan Lynch, Maggie Estep, Hepzibah Sessa,
as well as Alan Wilder himself as backing vocalist on a pair
of the songs.
The tone for the entire album is set at the very outset, with the foreboding
atmospheres and strange treated voices that open "Incubus."
A strong beat fires up, and supports Douglas McCarthy's initially
spoken vocals, which inventively borrow from the monologue at the beginning
of Francis Ford Coppola's film Apocalypse Now. Like
some Greek chorus, the voices of Hepzibah Sessa and Hildia
Campbell are heard whispering: "I have never seen a man so
broken up..." The intensity of the first half of the song is released
in a musical explosion of howling guitar samples, soaring synths, and
power percussions, while McCarthy erupts into a manic chorus,
yelling: "I am alive" and "I am your shadow." On
"Incubus," evil is born, and the rest of Unsound Methods
becomes a journey into the heart of darkness.
Snippets of everything from opera to film soundtrack music have been
sampled and weaved into the colorful sound tapestry of "Drifting."
Heavy break beats and an occasional scratch constitute the
rhythm track, and Siobhan Lynch deliver the vocals in a voice
that feels like the caress of a velvet glove. The next song "Luscious
Apparatus," features a great spoken word performance by Maggie
Estep. The story told concerns a sexual fantasy that becomes real,
and then turns into a nightmare. The musical accompaniment courses alongside
Estep's words, accentuating the shifting emotions of the story,
moving with mercurial ease from strolling guitar chords and subdued
beats, to passages of shimmering synths, to moments of dynamic drums
and screaming guitars.
Treated cello chords establish an appropriately threatening atmosphere
for Douglas McCarthy's pathological whispers on "Stalker."
The vocals play like the internal monologue of a wronged and obsessed
man, with a great chorus that recalls Depeche Mode,
and sums up McCarthy's feelings: "You were nothing without
me." The song nicely follows a classic dramatic curve, and the
inclusion of hovering female chorals and a woman's distressed phone
call to the police, heightens the sensation of listening to the soundtrack
of an imaginary film.
"Red River Cargo" likewise has the sequential structure of
a movie score in compressed form. Brief samples from film soundtracks
have been seamlessly incorporated into the piece, along with a number
of stock media recordings from the time of the American Civil Rights
struggles. The static crackling as of an old vinyl record underscores
the entire piece, further evoking the 50s period that the samples suggest,
and Hildia Campbell aspires to with her bluesy vocal performance.
The narratively driven vocals of Maggie Estep return on "Control
Freak," in another twisted story about sexual longings. However,
aside from the compelling sound of Oliver Kraus' cello, and
some strong synth presences in the beginning, the accompaniment for
this song falls short of the richness displayed on most of the other
tracks. The structure and arrangement of "Missing Piece" is
likewise less challenging, although the superb, layered violin performance
by Hepzibah Sessa in the latter half of the song, and the appearance
of Wilder himself performing backing vocals, add a lot to the
appeal of this song.
The musical unpredictability and inventiveness is back on "Last Breath." As on "Red River Cargo," a subdued layer of static is used at times to underscore Hildia Campbell's words, which are further complemented by Sessa's soft-spoken supporting vocals. Up until the last third of the song, the mood and quality of the instrumentation relies strongly on strings, and is rather mellow and serene, as befits Campbell's performance; then for the final passage of the song, the percussions become more dominant, while soaring synth themes and treated guitar samples bring "Last Breath" to a surprisingly intense and expansive close.
With the final selection on Unsound Methods, Wilder
seems to be tipping his hat to all his longstanding and faithful followers.
"Shunt" looks back on the purer electronic compositions of
Bloodline, Hydrology and Depeche Mode.
Speeding synth pulses, and the rhythmic sound of trains travelling down
endless railroad tracks, serve as the foundation for this stormy arrangement
of echoing computer effects and grandiose thematic structures. Sessa
and Wilder are heard whispering and breathing beneath the saturated
sonic carpet, but only at the end do they become clearly audible, as
they take turns repeating: "There's blood on the line" --
thereby bringing Unsound Methods back full circle to the previous
Recoil album.