BIG BRAVE - A Chaos of Flowers [LP]

Thrill Jockey

£32.40

Format: LP
Catalogue No.: THRILL607LP
Barcode: 790377060713
Release Date: 19 Apr 2024
Genre: Metal

A Chaos Of Flowers is an album that builds on their ferocious 2023 album nature morte. BIG|BRAVE’s music has been described as massive minimalism. Their fusillades of textural distortion and feedback emphasize their music’s frayed edges as much as its all-encompassing weight. The potency of the trio’s work is their singular artistry combining elements of traditional folk techniques and a modern deconstruction of guitar music. Gain, feedback, and amplitude are essential. For A Chaos Of Flowers guitarist/vocalist Robin Wattie drew heavily on the poems of artists whom Wattie found kinship in, their words resonant with experiences of those often sidelined by cultural norms. “I discovered that most poems from folk traditions or in the public domain seem to be by men – to which I could not quite relate. In my search, I rediscovered some of my favorite works and poets,” says Wattie. Guitarist Mathieu Ball and drummer Tasy Hudson help Wattie shape poetry into pieces as dense and impenetrable as they are vulnerable. BIG|BRAVE achieve their colossal sound through minimalist approaches, a deft understanding of dynamics and an inventive employment of percussion and distortion. The trio reconceptualize what it is to be heavy or minimal, challenging perceptions with their illumination of painfully overlooked perspectives. Guest guitarist Marisa Anderson lends earthen, blues-inflected atmospheres to the album, where guitarist Tashi Dorji and saxophonist Patrick Shiroishi amplify the squall. Working closely with frequent collaborator and producer/engineer Seth Manchester, the internal tumult of Wattie’s voice rings out in warbles, haunting echoes, and unearthly harmonies across bold immense walls of distortion. BIG|BRAVE have collaborated with metal monsters The Body on a previous Thrill Jockey release, Leaving None But Small Birds, and have toured internationally with bands like SUMAC, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, SUNN O))), and Lingua Ignota. As they continue to ascend in their journey as pioneers in the contemporary metal scene, it’s safe to say that BIG|BRAVE are here to stay.

BIG|BRAVE have toured the world relentlessly, including recent sets at Festival Adverso, Roadburn Festival, Donaufestival, and Supersonic Festival, performing alongside the likes of Liturgy, SUMAC, SUNN O))), Godspeed You! Black Emperor, and more. The band will tour throughout Europe & the UK this Spring and North America in late summer.

“...dense, layered, climactic, flaring with harmonics and rising up into a crushing wave of immense sound. If the immediate reaction is catharsis or release, that’s to be expected—this is music to purge the soul—but there’s also a great deal of subtlety within such a powerful package. Including a rare moment of chord-progression groove. Here’s where one of the best bands in North America only keeps getting better.” - Treble, Best albums of 2023

“If there’s one truth about BIG|BRAVE’s nature morte, it’s that beauty exists in the darkest of places.” - Exclaim, Best albums of 2023

A Chaos of Flowers is available in CD and LP formats, with a limited number of Clear Pink LPs available. All LP versions include a digital download card.

BIG|BRAVE are represented by Lauren Barley of Rarely Unable in the UK & EU, and Stephanie Marlow of Another Side PR in North America.

BIG|BRAVE previously collaborated with groundbreaking duo The Body on the Thrill Jockey release Leaving None But Small Birds

A Chaos of Flowers was recorded and produced by Seth Manchester at Machines With Magnets (Mdou Moctar, The Body, Liturgy, Lingua Ignota)

“BIG|BRAVE are the sound of the raw unconscious, turned up loud.” -Pitchfork

“BIG|BRAVE are a band whose career thus far has been marked by poise, glyph-like inscrutability and a startling degree of control...with the trio marshalling huge pillars of glimmering, prismatic sound as they explore space and dynamic while pressing forward into realms that are both stately and crushingly, achingly sad.” - The Quietus

TRACK LISTING:
1. i felt a funeral
2. not speaking of the ways
3. chanson pour mon ombre
4. canon : in canon
5. a song for Marie part iii
6. theft
7. quotidian : solemnity
8. moonset