Sissy Spacek — French Record

The French record finds Sissy Spacek returning to more noisy terrority after the often improvised and more subdued California Ax box set, but like the box set this often walks new and adventurous ground twisting their sound into new divine sonic mayhem.

Opening things up we have Scorpion Whip which uncovers a clear love of metal, but of course very bastardised and bent- it’s basically a series chugging of rock/ metal riffs running blurring and distorting into each other though noisy it’s still a surprisingly musically touched opener. As the album progresses the improvised elements from California  Ax pop up here and there, but in shorter more jarring and noisy pieces before jumping head long into noise roars, manic fall down the stairs percussive cut-up and searing feedback smarts. But the thing that keeps surfacing all the way through is how varied, concise and approachable the tracks are here- sure there still noisy and brutal but there traces of melodies,rhythm and really creative flare through-out. All making this the most approachable Sissy Spacek album thus far.

Like all of Sissy Spacek albums this functions best as a whole-a near on 40 minute sonic rollercoaster ride though a few stands out moments come in the form of; Flood with its landscape of feedback swipes and wraps, juddering stop/ start percussions and tight guitar strip picks all coming off like coarse, demented and slightly bloody cartoon music. Really into the haters that loops, layers and builds the sound of shovelling junk/ steel with rising mechanical background drone and junk yard percussions to build a hypnotic textural rewarding track that seems to completely surround you. Deep water with its sped and screwed up harmonic textures that feels like been throw one ball screwed musically snippets after another, but before you mind can un-screw them you’re thrown yet another one.

Though I enjoyed and treasure California Ax it’s a complex and challenging beast of a release which I’m still fully trying to get my head round. The French Record finds them distilling, polishing and defining their sound- it’s jarring, manic, playful and damn creative. One of the noise records of the year and a great starting point for those unaccustomed to both Sissy Spacek and the noise genre- really high end creative noise madness.