She Walks Crooked — The Many Women Of Fassbinder: Hanna Schygulla

As its title suggest this single-track walled noise release from California-based She Walks Crooked is influenced by German Actress Hanna Schygulla. She appeared in twenty-three films made by German new wave director Rainer Werner Fassbinder, with notable titles being 1979’s The Marriage of Maria Braun, where she played a tough-yet-sensual woman in the WWII drama, and 1981’s Lili Marleen- a drama/ musical set in 1938 where she played a singer. 

The release comes in the form of a CDR on Texas-based Fantasy 1- it’s presented in a DVD case, with the monochrome cover featuring a collage-covered picture of Ms Schygulla. It comes in a generous edition of fifty copies- and can be purchased directly from here 
 
 
The She Walk Crooked project was started in 2013 by its one and only member Scott Kindberg- who is also in the infamous noise jam project Black Leather Jesus, as well as solo projects A Woman's Glove, S. Schon, Silver Moult- he also runs the noise label Petite Soles. Going by Discogs She Walks Crooked has just over fifty releases to its name- so by HNW standards it’s rather un-prolific. The project name relates to British/ French actress & singer Charlotte Gainsbourg- with many of its early releases being themed/ connected to MS Gainsbourg- though I think this has somewhat drifted in recent years. It must be four or so years since I last heard/ reviewed any of the project's work for M[m].
 
The single track featured here comes in at just over the one-hour mark, and what we have here is an example of densely rolling ‘n’ roasting walled noise. I’ll have to admit the first few times I played the track I thought it was a passable/ if unremarkable example of the HNW form. But with closer/ concentrated plays it’s opened up much more, with some nice detail/ possible shifts coming to ear. 
 
The whole thing is built around a thick billowing roll- this has a slight oscillation running through its continued flow. Around the main element, we have a thinner and rapidly cluttering mid-range judder, and a few hissing ‘n’ rattling subtones. As the track progresses it seems the once central focused billow becomes pulled in/ drawn back in the mix- with the once secondary elements coming much to the fore. These elements now feel more erratic, and at times seemingly altering in their patterns. But of course, this been walled noise, you can never be totally sure if you are hearing shifts/ new patterns- or it’s just a trick of the ‘wall’ itself. A few of these observed possible shifts appear thus: at around the twenty-eight-minute mark, I’m sure I can hear this off-pattern rattle stretch ‘n’ crawl element. At around the thirty-nine-minute mark, the billow is seemingly sinking way back/ almost disappears and we have a rapid rattling ‘n’ slight hiss tone come to the fore- with a bubbling air bubble-like rush around it.  At the fifty-one-minute mark, we have a more wildly juddering hiss ‘n’ splutter appear. At the fifty-six-minute mark, there’s a spaced rolling crunch, as the rest of the ‘wall’ fades…it sort of sounds like someone slowly crushing glass under a rolling pin.
 
 
This release was very much of a grower for me- normally the first few times I hear a ‘wall’ it either clicks or doesn’t, but this one took a lot longer to decide on… but there was clearly a pull/ interest here from the first play, otherwise, I wouldn’t have re-listened to it so many times. So, in conclusion, a ‘wall’ worthy of your time/ effort- as it really does reveal it’s worth the more you play it.