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(Clicka qua per la versione Italiana)
Larval is an open ensemble formed by Bill Brovold (a veteran of Rhys Chatam's
groups) in Detroit in 1996, that plays
progressive-rock tainted with avantgarde techniques.
The polystylistic mess
Larval (Avant, 1997), which featured a rock band, and
the free-form freak-out of
Larval 2 (Knitting, 1998), which expanded the rock band to classical
and jazz instruments, created a
sensation with their thunderous, relentless, organic sound.
The nine tracks on Predator or Prey (Knitting, 2000) are more varied
and accessible, overflowing with echoes of 1970s progressive-rock.
In that vein, Brovold also released Childish Delusions (Tzadik) under
his own name (but with similar collaborators).
The five tracks on Obedience (Cuneiform, 2003) display a narrower range
of influences, which also means that the album as a whole is more focused
and tighter.
The use of repetition and loud volume in Last Ditch (eleven minutes)
recalls Glenn Branca's guitar symphonies, but the second half is a
self-indulgent incursion in Sonic Youth's noise-rock.
When Bullet Meets Flesh is mostly built around that kind of
minimalism, but it is sabotaged by many devastating detours.
Something Terrible Is About To Happen (13 minutes),
one of their most accomplished
compositions yet, opens with the noise of a wasp nest and maintains a
threatening atmosphere throughout, despite a couple of dramatic mood/speed
changes. This is also a more relaxed and subtle efforts, compared with the
early albums. One Day I Just Kept On Walking (eleven minutes), for
example, is eight minutes of chaotic, cacophonous notes, resembling a
psychedelic jam, that only towards the end coalesce into a solemn crescendo.
Surviving not one but five heart attacks, Bill Brovold assembled a
Larval double-CD containing a studio recoridng,
Surviving Death, and a live recording Alive Why (Cuneiform, 2007).
The instrumentation on Surviving Death has converged towards
keyboards, guitars and saxophones.
The nine pieces are exercises in blending well-tempered minimalism,
romantic crescendos
and languid instrumental solos rising from the coldly structured harmony.
While the music is shrouded in a
somber mood, best epitomized by the
piano-based elegy Scottish Blood,
at times resembling a funeral march (It Was A Puny Plan),
despite a couple of comic interludes
(notably the unrelenting eight-minute The 300lbs Nurse).
Brovold's quintessential crescendo is
noisier and more abstract: the eleven-minute Surviving Death.
The live disc recycles
Last Ditch from Obedience (2003).
Crippled Dance and Alpha Thejone from Predator or Prey (2000),
and debuts a loud and relentless Guitar Trio.
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