Dolores
Bohren and Der Club of Gore
Ipecac Recordings
10/10
It’s been a while since I’ve anticipated a band’s upcoming release as much as I did this one. This is a band whose career has drifted quietly in the background for around twenty years, their first album release coming in 1994. When I discovered them, I was so stunned by their harrowing beauty that I made a point to look them up – it was shocking to find that they’d been around so long and yet I’d never met one person who’d heard of them (and I’m still constantly having to explain them in conversation)- and I like to think I hang out with a lot of differing tastes. The beauty of the thing, however, is that anyone who’s taken the time to give them a listen is equally as stunned by this discovery. They’re a gorgeous ensemble, who’s sublime sounds paint a wonderful landscape that is so easily escaped into. Naturally the new album is everything I expected – avant-garde, ambient jazzy, haunting, creepy goodness…but check the album art. I’ve never been a huge fan of digital media, but that is absolutely amazing. It has a weird kind of appeal; it’s both beautiful as it is frightening, which I suppose reflects their sound just nicely. It’s definitely worth checking the album if you’re open to the sound.
-Kim Worpek