Daniel Blumberg’s 2018 release ‘Minus’ never drew the recognition it deserved. A profound record of late Scott Walkeresque scale with songs balanced on an improvisational high wire, it was a massive leap from the indie noise gaze of his former bands Cajun Dance Party and Yuck. Now Blumberg is offering the next instalment of his work with the album ‘On&On’, available via Mute from 31st July. The record features the same group of free, intuitive players as ‘Minus’, including drummer Jim White (Xylouris White and Dirty Three) and sound artist Elvin Brandhi, and promises further explorations of delicacy with destruction.
Blumberg has been gradually unfurling this new music in the usual places since June and now as the ‘On & On’ full release edges closer, comes three more insights into the album’s shapes and forms. There is the surprising country lilt of ‘Bound’, a more conventional song of yearning melody and close harmony that surges skywards in the closing section. ‘Silence Breaker’ is more abstract, a claustrophobic free form chant, all scuttling strings, nearly beats and auto-tune flourishes. The last track in this preview trio is a return to ’On & On & On & On’, the song theme that resurfaces in different guises across the record, this time tensely drawn as the snares rattle while the strings pulse and surge.
Listening to these preview tracks you can sense the scale and ambition of ‘On &On’.
Daniel Blumberg may not seek it but he demands attention.
