Bicycle Sighs
Leben Verlangert
Released by Poor No Graphic | CD-R | 2010
Written on 05.04.10 by William Bowers
A proper Bicycle Sighs album has been a long time coming. I’m not saying that there hasn’t been a good Bicycle Sighs album, there just has not been a proper accessible physical release, save for a few oddities. When I had first heard about Leben Verlangert, I had my hopes quite high as I had long been awaiting an album from one of my favorite musical productions.
However, when I got the actual album in the mail, I was a bit disappointed. The hand-made case did not seem to do justice for the Bicycle sound. But then again, I’m usually wrong. Upon opening the album up, I went into my bedroom, popped the album in my stereo and laid in my bed, letting the darkness and sleep consume me as the sonic daemons crawled into my mind.
We start off with "Song Birds", a slow bowing track of sorts that pulls you in slowly. You know you’re waiting for something, but nothing comes and you let yourself sink back into relaxation. Just as the Song Birds float away into silence, you are greeted by “Brown Kettle For A Black Girl”. A slow crescendo pulls you back again to a bleak world. The music is as post-modern as it is organic. The only thing I can compare it to is waking in some unfamiliar city alone and with no direction. The dark soundscape eats away at you and leaves you in a daze of wonderment. The track is long, just over 23 minutes. The first half carries you into a meditative state and the other half produces drones meant to keep you this way. I should note at this point that I fell asleep. Don’t hold that against me, I was already familiar with the track. When I awoke, I heard what could only be described as chamber music for a psychiatric ward. The sounds were of a dark harpsichord in a deserted cathedral amongst a whispering drone of sounds. As the notes pulled me out of my haze, a blast of martial drums beat me senseless and left me in more of a daze than when I awoke. Meinengarde is the come-down from the trip, almost an anchor to safety before you are greeted by “Who Watches the Watchmen?”, a 20 minute opus of noise, ambience, and classical influence that leaves you begging for more (Although I seriously doubt the human mind could take much more without serious damage). By far, one of the greatest albums from the house.
BICYCLE SIGHS online | POOR NO GRAPHIC online