Sometime around the release of his 1984 album Climate of Hunter, Scott Walker discorporated and his consciousness scattered. Periodically, he’s able to gather his atoms back together and create a harrowing dispatch from the ether before vanishing for another decade or so. His once-golden voice reduced to a haunted wail, Walker painstakingly recreates the sounds of traveling through half-existence surrounded by phantoms of the 20th century’s cruelty. Maybe that’s all a little dramatic, but it’s nearly impossible to use the conventional language of criticism to describe Walker’s recent output. Bish Bosch is marginally more focused than 2006’s The Drift, but the punishing intrusions of sound, from howling strings to flecks of metal guitar, remain entrancing and alienating. Walker’s dissipated opera howl dances with carefully chosen, evocative words over unconventional rhythms. Songs like the minimalist “Dimple” and titanic “SDSS1416+13B (Zercon, A Flagpole Sitter)” weave a singular spell that absolutely demand attention.
“Bish Bosch”, $12.99, amazon.com
By Tom Forget
