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An unusually subtle recording, and a significant departure from their earlier roots, damping down heavy electrics into what the band describe as a quieter, almost semi-acoustic style. The debut Hubro album by the highly regarded Norwegian trio Bushman\u2019s Revenge – underground stars of the Rune Grammofon label for a decade – operates on several levels. After a hypnotic experimental prelude that creates a sort of audible weather system, with the delicate, bare-wire glissandos of Even Helte Hermansen\u2019s soprano guitar heard against Gard Nilssen\u2019s beaten percussion and the elegantly dancing measures of Rune Nergaard\u2019s electric bass, \u2018Et H\u00e5n Mot Overklassen\u2019 (which Google Translate renders as \u201cA Mockery of the Upper Class\u2019) begins to settle. The instruments sound pretty much like guitar, bass and drums are meant to do, and the opening numbers follow a recognisable model of theme\/improv\/theme.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Twangy blues jam meets musique concrete and soaring gothic soundscapes in cult trio\u2019s transgressive mockery of the upper class.<\/p>\n
Then, as the long, riverine meanders of guitarist Even Helte Hermansen get into their stride, and the effects-pedal expressionism of his chosen settings thickens timbres into a growling axe-attack, things become chewier and more challenging. It\u2019s like Cream playing Coltrane (Alice or John), remixed by Arne Nordheim or Karlheinz Stockhausen. By the time you get deep into the heart of the album, past rumbling audio-sculptures, tamboura drones, found-sound samples, the twangy blues jam and a soaring gothic soundscape, it can be hard to be sure where one instrument ends and another begins. The overall ambiance might also seem closer to a film soundtrack or art installation than a normal collection of tunes. It\u2019s a kind of sonic journey, moving the art of the trio on to the contemporary zeitgeist of noise, drones and filmic FX.<\/p>\n
Although this is very much a trio album rather than a guitar showcase, Hermansen\u2019s shockingly comprehensive skills and nifty customised hardware can\u2019t help but join the dots connecting several disparate reference points, from historical guitar heroics to Sonic Youth to contemporary noise bands. The range of influences also travels a long way from the usual jazz and rock signifiers, to the Beatles\u2019 \u2018White Album\u2019, say, the film scores of Ennio Morricone, and the experiments of Supersilent or Jan Johansson. By the end, Bushman\u2019s Revenge – whose 2012 album \u2019Never Mind the Botox\u2019 irreverently mixed together tunes by Ornette Coleman, The Pixies, Black Sabbath and Sun Ra – remind you of no one so much as themselves. Convincingly, the trio have created their own distinctive signature: a genre of one.<\/p>\n
Unlike some previous Bushman\u2019s Revenge albums, there are no special guests, but the normal paramenters of the trio are expanded through the inclusion of several other instruments, with drummer Nilssen doubling vibes and Wurlitzer electric piano while bassist Nergaard covers organ, toy piano and percussion. Hermansen plays percussion as well as his barrow-load of guitars, and all three members add \u2018electronics\u2019. Pleasingly, \u2018Et H\u00e5n Mot Overklassen\u2019 ends as it began, with a lyrical, electronically enhanced prelude leading into a sensitively played jazz tune. We have come full circle.<\/p>\n
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