Critiques CD: Beak> | >>

Before us here is album two from this Bristol, UK trio headed by the very well known musician and producer Geoff Barrow (a.k.a. monsieur Portishead). Trip-hop this ain’t, folks. Barrow et. al. (Billy Fuller and Matt Williams) keep their sonic tropics on the minimally raw tip, reliving the collaborative aesthetic that fueled their 2009 debut and also reviving their philosophy of a strict ‘no overdub’ recording policy. The music inside teeters on the creepy and panicked – zooming from dirty dub atmospheres to pulsing electro kraut jams –  instrumental cries for help in the face of insurmountable odds; drums crackling, bass bulging, a slurred voice praying, and the keyboards acting as the sirens that break the silence.