Sutcliffe Jügend — Blue Rabbit
So went my train of thought, a train which was to be derailed upon pressing play on the first track of Blue Rabbit. It is immediately obvious that this is not a Power Electronics record, or indeed one that owes much to any strain of noise or industrial. An array of creaking and scraping sounds, the type you can't - and don't want to - identify; strings played unsympathetically and hatefully; primitive electronics trying to break through the mire; and a voice, murmuring, quietly ranting thoughts as if they might better be left unsaid. Track one ‘Solace ‘ is a near-masterpiece of hideous, wretched darkness. The mood continues on track two ‘Seedless’, joined by rattling percussion. For a band most well known for their association with the PE scene, Blue Rabbit immediately seems to fit in better with the neo-classical dark ambience of a label like Miasmah (bearing a striking similarity at times with the first Elegi album).
Then, something happens during the third track ‘The Bad Mannered Prophet’. Or, more correctly, it doesn't. Somewhere during the track's 11 minute run time, a sense of monotony appears. While the sound on ‘Solace ‘ was striking, the very same sound now has become a little tiresome. Those creaks and rattles have become too comfortable, and no longer seem to shock or chill in the way they initially did. And the voice, still ranting in the same subdued delivery, is actually becoming a little bit annoying. Thankfully the formula is broken elsewhere, notably the more spacious sound on the 6th track ‘The Good Child’ electronic drones, and the wailing feedback of strings at the end of the album.
I do find it irresistible to get lost in deeply textured soundscape music, picturing the scenes the music portrays; and imagining how many deaths and tortures are played out in Blue Rabbit's landscape certainly provided morbid pleasure, albeit one which does begin to wane as it progresses. It's a brave experiment that pushes Sutcliffe Jugend further from their roots, and while not a failure by any means, it is ultimately slightly disappointing which suggests that either a shorter runtime, or a few more musical ideas, may be in order next time.