Bruit The Machine Is Burning And Now Everyone Knows It Could Happen Again

Stunning debut, from French art rockers Bruit! Initially the band performed their creative research and sonic experiments solely in a studio setting. In the world of Bruit ≤, spontaneous experimentation, thoughtful composition and the aspect of performing in order to create are different but inevitably inseparable techniques of working on the same fabric: the black magic that is creating music. Artistic Identity comes from reconciling these different techniques and approaches of working on and with that fabric, and to understand this better while listening to this album, it helps to make yourself aware that one half of the musicians is classically trained, while the other half is not and barely knows how to read notes. The shifting to and fro between theory and practice, between research and performance and between thought and action are ultimately also reflections of the band’s fiercely activist mind-set. Bruit ≤ have everything a quintessential post-rock act needs, from an excessively long album name to drawn out compositions driven by atmosphere to immaculate climaxes led by soaring, delay-soaked guitars. The band effortlessly flows from atmospheric post-metal to free jazz, and from folktronica to neo-classical avant garde improv. Bruit ≤ can only be fully understood through their attitude rather than their musical influences, from the environmental agenda to the group's staunch boycott of Spotify because of the platform's notoriously sad pay-outs for musicians and their CEO Daniel Ek's recent investments in the arms industry... In that, the group is firmly nested in the tradition of political instrumental rock bands like Godspeed YOU! Black Emperor, and the tumultuous yet wordless sound of the revolution that they stand for is indeed somehow related to Bruit ≤'s own musical landscape.