Scott Walker has always been an
enigmatic figure. His rise as an ‘60s American baritone crooner, influencing everyone
from David Bowie to Radiohead in the process, took an unexpected turn as he became a
recluse in England, sporadically making increasingly noisy, difficult albums
that at any given moment showcased both his golden voice and, say, percussion
created by punching meat. Truly avant-garde, Walker now teams up with drone-metal
band Sunn O))), who provide an unsettling minimalist backing to Walker’s
beautiful melodies for Soused, an
album that in another dimension could have been the soundtrack to the Texas
Chainsaw Massacre.
Soused begins deceptively on “Brando”, with gorgeous arpeggiating
guitars and Walker quoting the American traditional Shenandoah, singing,
“Across the wide Missouri.” Things get ugly as Sunn O))) begin their industrial
grinding and Walker starts singing, “Sneaking by, I am down on my knees,”
imagery that evokes American slavery. From here on Soused comes off like a minimalist opera, ripe for theatrical
interpretation. If Igor Stravinsky and Trent Reznor had teamed up to compose a
Neo-Classical Opera, this is probably pretty close to what they would have created. Soused is cyclical, with
musical and lyrical motifs repeated every few minutes, and every track spills
over the 9-minute mark.
“Bull” takes things further down
the horror-film rabbit hole, with percussion provided by metal clanking. It
seems all too appropriate when Walker starts singing in Latin, as if he’s exorcising
his demons while power chords drone on behind him. “Herod 2014” features
shrieking clarinets as Walker laments, “She’s hidden her babies away,” undoubtedly
from some unnamed menace. “Bladepoints knife the air,” Walker sings on
“Fetish,” upping the fright as a jazzy trumpet plays like a David Lynch film,
and a warping, detuned bassline stretches out like vertigo.
On closing track “Lullaby” Walker
wonders, “Why don’t minstrels go from house to house, howling songs the way
they used to?” Probably because too many bad things happened to them, but
Walker keenly takes up the role himself on Soused,
traversing the darkness and howling at the evils it holds.
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