Labels: God Unknown
Review by: Alex Deller
Cavalier Song’s 2015 was a compelling piece of work, and this is ups their game considerably. The band’s ambitious mix of post-rock and prog has been developed and embellished, and for this release vocalist/poet Mark Greenwood appears as a permanent fixture rather than a guest. The music moves nimbly, shifting between smoky, noirish overtones, spacious subtlety and moments of dense, jarring clamour. Greenwood’s words are draped atop, carefully enunciated and comparable to Mark E. Smith if the Fall frontman were more inspired by Ted Hughes’ crow poems than Lovecraft, drink and the manifold vexations of post-industrial life. There are overarching stylistic and sonic links to acts like King Crimson, Rodan and The For Carnation, but perhaps the most on-point comparison would be a UK-based, regionally-focused iteration of the mighty Enablers … high and strange praise indeed, but in this case richly deserved.