Dawn breaks over an inverted kingdom. The animals come out to graze, the flowers watching over them hungrily, craning their stalks to face the sluggish beasts. If any rest for too long, the undergrowth will devour them. Trees, with searching, carnivorous vines, are next, reaching up from underneath to drag the animal carcass beneath the soil. Inside the palace itself, no plants grow — it is a refuge of human and animal species from the encroaching flora outside.
“There are no dead ends in their Palace: It’s a dark territory and sparse in light but each turn is a success and each glance a revelation.”
Palace, the third full-length recording for improvisational and experimental trio B/B/S, was actually recorded in a much friendlier environment: the Golden Retriever studio in Berlin, where the three international musicians are based. The trio of Aidan Baker, Andrea Belfi, and Erik Skodvin have each brought their compositional signatures — honed over hundreds of projects and recordings between them — to an expansive album heavy on droning improvisation and medieval outbursts. I imagine the effects used in the sessions to be rough blocks of virgin rock with 1/4” inputs sourced from a forgotten quarry, blasting seismic dust through the audio as it passes from musician to ear.
The metal influence that brought the trio together — apparent on tracks like “Mask” from their first release, Brick Mask — has been eschewed here in favor of a much darker, hypnotic sound. Check out “Combuh” for a prime example: this album closer is a furious exploration of B/B/S’s palace, where disembodied spirits thrash against their chains in the dungeons beneath its opulent sitting rooms, while Belfi’s drumming hisses like a pit of snakes, slithering effortlessly through complex patterns.
Palace will be Miasmah’s first release for their 10-year anniversary and arrives in a 2xLP edition of 500 on June 10, featuring artwork by Erik Skodvin. You can listen to a mix made for the occasion here, which also showcases a track from Volcano The Bear’s 5LP retrospective, Commencing.
Palace tracklist:
01. Cosmow
02. Butcher Note
03. Navel Oil
04. Linber
05. LA Mom
06. Solo
07. Ape Rug
08. Hogan Pence
09. Harm Bug
10. Combuh
More about: Aidan Baker, Andrea Belfi, B/B/S, Erik Skodvin
