Humcrush – Rest At Worlds End (album review)
In my review for Humcrush’s previous album Hornswoggle, I labeled the style of the group as ‘android jazz.’ It was one of those off-the-cuff descriptors that seemed somewhat clever at the time, but as I’ve listened to them for three releases now, it really does seem apt.
If you’ve been following the Rune Grammofon label at all for any time now, the names of percussionist Thomas Strønen (who plays in Food and has also released the solo Pohlitz) and keyboardist Ståle Storløkken (Supersilent, Elephant9, and others) are probably very familiar at this point. They’re both insanely good at what they do, and while their particular playing styles seep across from project to project, their Humcrush project is certainly unique enough to warrant its own name.
Just to let you know that they’re serious, they kick things off with “Stream,” and the blistering three and a half minutes are more frenetic, exciting, noisy, and downright thunderous than anything they’ve done to date. Strønen’s percussion goes from almost glitched-out sprays of rapid-fire hits before at times coalescing into pummeling stomps while Storløkken romps right along with him, blasting through rhythms and melodies that are at times sheer brute force and at others downright giddy. It sounds something like Supersilent gone pop, and it goes without saying that it slays.
“Stream” – Humcrush
From there out, they veer through all manner of sound, with several songs pushing through mellower puffs of textural sound and tippy-tappy percussion (“Airport,” “Audio Hydraulic”), while in other places they again launch into full-frontal synapse-blasting workouts that will perk up different spots in your brain depending on your listening environment (“Creak,” “Bullfight”).
They’re at their best when they’re riding somewhere in-between, which is where a good portion of Rest At Worlds End clocks in. Tracks like “Hit” have an invigorating mixture of texture, rhythm, and melody that makes it hard to believe that just two fellows are making all the noises themselves. But there it is.
“Hit” – Humcrush
As if some of the music don’t blow my mind enough, the fact that the tracks on the release were actually recorded live at various locations makes me think that the duo have some sort of Scandinavian mind-meld going on. There’s no crowd noise or other distractions, but there’s definitely a spontaneous and somewhat un-composed quality to the release that gives it a real energy. There must be something in the water up there.
February 2nd, 2009 at 4:35 am
London is under its worst snow in 18 years, courtesy of winds from the Russian Arctic, and this album is a beautifully mysterious accompaniment to wandering around in it. I like this best of all the Humcrush records so far.
February 6th, 2009 at 11:43 am
humcrush = nice.
February 13th, 2009 at 6:02 am
Totally agree with you, i like it more than anything else they released before.
January 3rd, 2010 at 8:58 pm
[...] Humcrush – Rest At Worlds End (Rune Grammofon) In a year when Supersilent went drummerless and got even more super silent, [...]