Kathleen Yearwood - Hunt The Circle mp3 download

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“Hunt the Circle”, which was announced as being death metal album, ends up being much more convincing than any real death metal. From the uncompromising sepia toned cover photo of a shadowy Kathleen on horseback, holding a rifle, which makes the packaging look like an artifact from another time, to the emotionally draining sounds within, this is some serious stuff. Is it death metal? Not in the narrowest sense of the term. There are no cookie-monster vocals (as there were on Yearwood’s “Ordeal” release) or down-tuned chugging. You won’t hear any double bass drum savagery here either. Instead, this has more in common with the noise genre, reminding me a bit of Japanese noise artists like Solmania or Hijo Kaidan, although with much more emotional depth. The noise genre is known for its cathartic effect on the listener, and I definitely feel cleansed after listening to this music, but this is a multi-faceted release, with more of a dynamic range than one usually associates with the noise genre.Yearwood doesn’t mess around here. The title track clocks in at 17:20, with echo-laden guitar somehow evoking desert imagery, like some arthouse Western where all of the good guys die. Then, sheets of guitar noise squall down like icy rain, obscuring the sandy vista and erasing the horizon. Sirens wail, bunkers are sought. Noise and sustained feedback lash at the ears, and while the ears are distracted, ominous undertones slink in. This cleanses like a vicious sandstorm, wiping everything smooth. It calms down for some delicate xylophone, choir samples, and some languid, woozy guitar notes, but then the onslaught continues. Around two thirds of the way in, it gets quiet again, spelunking into hidden grottos. Yes, it’s a dynamic piece of music, unlike most death metal or noise. The quiet bits make the noise onslaught just that much more effective. The whispered spoken vocals, when they appear, are brief and thought-provoking- ending with the line, “The sun records our shadow then burns out”.Next up is Hypothermia, the shortest song. There is a sample of actress Natalya Bondarchuk (from Tarkovsky’s “Solaris”) talking about art and transcendental Russian director Andrei Tarkovsky (in Russian, of course). There is some nice, funereal trombone by Ken Read, and some fluid, meandering almost free-jazz sounding bass, plus some backward samples of screaming. Had I Known features stratospheric, delicate vocals, trombone, and languid, echoey guitar. It is imbued with deeply felt, aetheric melancholy. I Can’t really make out the words though, but that’s okay because the emotion is crystal clear. Stabs of guitar sound underpin wafts of voice, then violin and voice join hands and soar together. Chords crunch, and we are all free to soar. Beautiful.99 Names of Dog starts with the words, “I hate this town”, and then gives way to a swift babble of multi-tracked voices which are swiftly eclipsed by free-form guitar noise. The voices give the impression that they’re always there under the surface, under the noise of existence, bemoaning the ordeal of living amongst thugs and emotional cripples. The guitar is a release, spewing bile outward. The voices, multiplied, eventually become unrecognizable as such, fading into silence.During Wolftone, the healing growl of guitar continues, feral and unafraid, snapping, snarling, divine, cavernous yet uncontained. Sharp, like barbed wire guitar kicking up sparks over rocky landscape, and ending in a cleansing blast of feedback.Pissin’ in a River is a Patti Smith cover. Yearwood makes it her own, as she always does with covers and trad. Songs. Here she combines plaintive violin, hushed vocals, and snarling guitar, unleashing a version of the song that is both brittle and bristling with anger. The song (and the CD) ends with ragged screaming, like Diamanda Galas choking on sandpaper. It’s hard to pick a favorite song – this is more like a suite of music, with the pieces interlocking seamlessly like mysterious, ancient architecture. If pressed, I might have to pick Had I Known, but really, it’s like looking at a field of flowers and trying to pick the best one. This is music for outsiders, for people who are free from the dictates of genre classifications, and for people who have managed to retain their sense of wonder and adventure.