Jarboe - Anhedoniac Album

The Atavistic reissue of 2004 is enhanced by two tracks – instrumental and a capella versions of ‘I’m a Killer’ that bookend the album. The thematic continuity with mid 1990s Swans is striking. Anhedoniac further explores the styles pursued in different eras of World of Skin, Swans and Body Lovers’ Number One of Three. Cohesion is maintained by the narrative and the sonospheres that occur throughout.

One of the agitated voices on ‘I’m a Killer’ warns of “words that draw blood” and that sets the stage. Over the title track’s melodic loop, the voices chant in call-and-response, summoning up a haunted fairground atmosphere. Then the red velvet wound of Soundtracks for the Blind returns. Later, ‘Anhedoniac Bottle’ displays a similar pattern, becoming ever more unsettling as the voices, including that of a little girl, join in the singing as a bottle hits the floor with a clunk.

Spiritual yearning is implied on the track ‘Cage’ in a repetitive phrase by a robotic male vocal, despite its crude carnal expression. Sudden roars, muffled outbursts, repressed disembodied voices and crashes pierce the rolling thunder and grinding guitar drone.

A gentle acoustic ballad charms the listener before the music morphs into pounding hardcore industrial with another unhinged lead vocal. The bellowing, bleating, lowing and shrieking cacophony of ‘Not Noah’s Ark’ subsides for a brief narration on the primordial “greyish translucent slime.”

Another type of terror haunts ‘Mississippi’ where an old lady recounts an enigmatic tale to an ominous backdrop of chimes, insects, rumbles and squawks. The ferocious ‘Burn’, in the style of Mother Father from The Great Annihilator, sears ears and mind.

Sorrow gives way to the sublime in the numinous track ‘Forever’ where the weary speaking voice ascends to song in a process that reverses the entropic decomposition of ‘Sinner’. Despite the lingering melancholia, despair dissolves midway through the effect of a subtle ululation that momentarily hovers over key words.

Except for a few spoken phrases by a male vocal, ‘Under Will’ is a majestic lament of wordless vocals and hypnotextures shaped by chromatic, harmonic & modal shifts reminiscent of ‘Warm’ on The Great Annihilator.

The poem ‘Circles In Red Dirt’ opens with spoken voice which is gradually adorned by exquisite background vocals. The Finnish band Panasonic transmutes ‘Circles’ into a brooding blend of voice, drones and shifting percussive patterns. ‘Panasonic in Red Dirt’ brings to mind the most striking of what was termed ‘intelligent techno’ in the 1990s – the instrumental moods of inter alia Autechre.

The gently swaying ‘Sacred Disciple Wannabe’ and the seemingly soothing ‘Honey’ adhere to conventional song structure, as the lyrics become the sole vehicle of the theme. ‘Honey’ resembles World of Skin’s torch songs or from another perspective, the intriguing ‘Blackmail’ from Children of God.

The legion of voices returns in all their wounded splendour for a final outburst on the original version of ‘I’m a Killer’. Thus the chthonic force is spent as this magnificent work concludes with the instrumental version that surges with a mighty power that has been brought under control.