“Trope” comes across as the most normal song on here. Its bizarre wormy attempt at coherence comes closest to early Black Dice recordings. Here the drum works as a way to keep a beat. In most instances on this record the drummer’s purpose seems to be to painting the sound and ruining any attempts at a beat. Whenever you here the pounding of the drum you can be assured it won’t be kept in anything resembling a time signature.
Some might say that their work resembles that Brooklyn-based group Sightings. I’d say that’s partly right, but unlike that group no vocalist exists. Also, there isn’t anything to anchor these songs down, no drum machine and no attempt at stability. Structures here exist only for untimely destruction.
Despite the very abrasive textures found here, they are excellent. The amount of effort required to keep something this harsh and abstract engaging is high. Sister Iodine excels at this talent. Noises that would usually be edited out of the process are the main focus. Scraping feedback, random transmissions, drum smashes, and whatever else is going on is the focus. It moves very briskly through these sonic hellscapes.
Editions Mego released this, so that should give you some indication of the record’s harshness. It is rare that a full-fledged rock band takes on this level of brutality, but Sister Iodine performs beautifully. Not exactly something you’d return to every day, but a wonderful feat nonetheless. Shame these guys don’t get more attention.
Their Website
Their Website