Not many bands, let alone post-rock bands, make it to a fourth album. Guns of Brixton is the exception. The key to the band’s success is a mixture of influences, beginning with The Clash (who inspired the band’s name and is strongly referenced in the chopped riffs of “Du bist mir volkommen egal”) and shifting wildly to the surprising anger of screamo. After one has been lulled with melodic guitar for 12 minutes, followed by operatic keyboards that sound like a theremin for two minutes, one doesn’t expect to hear angry vox – but this is what keeps the album exciting. Lest instrumental fans fear, this anger takes a long break between the third and sixth tracks, perhaps fuming and kicking trash cans in the back room of the studio. Earlier this year, The Pirate Ship Quintet tried doing the same thing, but Guns of Brixton did it first, and better.
The dub influences of previous efforts are toned down here, but the metal riffs are still present, beginning with the heavy churn of opening track “Hibakusha”. As the thick chords rise like smoke from an all-out mid-song stop, the listener is drawn to the fire. Could this be the future of post-rock? Or would it be better to refer to the French band by a super-hyphenated genre tag?
The sequencing is fun to chart, as intention has been given to full-album development. Trumpets conjure mariachi associations on “Retour de Japon”, which occupies the album’s midpoint. In the latter frame we encounter spoken word, sirens and a dog. As we approach the finale, crystalline female vocals appear, as if the end credits were rolling. And finally, eight minutes of wind, closing “Terraform”, an echo of the creaking boat noises that haunt “Il ne resteraa que des silhouettes”. Nearly every song has a “secret ingredient” baked into the batter. This variety helps each track to sound distinct, while adding to the listener’s appreciation of the band as a whole.
Guns of Brixton has settled into a steady pace of an album every third year, so they might not produce a fifth album until 2015. But given the excitement of the fourth, we want to hear a fifth. By that time they will have incorporated even more new sounds and influences. This is the way that bands survive in the new century; may the Guns of Brixton continue to blaze. (Richard Allen)
Stream in full (Guns of Brixton Bandcamp)
Stream in full (Aentitainment Bandcamp)
a closer listen 