Diebold
Listen to My Heartbeast
Bangor
Listen to My Heartbeast is the first official full-length from Sophie Trudeau and Ian Ilavsky, the Canadian duo who make up Diebold. Both musicians are long time members of Constellation Records’ doom rock bands like Godspeed You! Black Emperor and A Silver Mt. Zion, and this pedigree comes through on this album. Their drum and bass compositions are a near caustic intersection of noise, drone metal, punk, and post-rock. It’s the sound of demolition, a junkyard, a refinery, with the music at times cranking like clockwork and at others disintegrating into chaos.
Where their full-time outfits would balance the transition between delicate nuances of their songs, Diebold charges in with simplistic, guttural riffs and decimates almost any chance for song growth. It’s a total scorched-earth policy; the opener “Usaid” gnashes up melody with little more than five different notes and thunder drums leveling mountains in the background. The title track falls about as far from this form as Diebold allows, stretching tendrils of feedback and reverb along the low-end to rattle the floorboards. Forsaking the onslaught for a more sinister ambiance is a wise move; these two are too good at experimentation to coast by on a one-note concept. Start planning your Halloween party around this one.
Bangor: http://www.bangorrecords.com
