Jarboe – Thirteen Masks (Atavistic)
Jarboe, long-time Swans member, had two solo albums in the mid-90s and this was her first. There are many different sounds and collaborators on this and she plays many different characters, which the title hints at. A lot of this is goth-y pop and has a very distinct 80s sound, some of it dated. This is mostly programmed. There aren’t many acoustic instruments. The last 3 tracks are bonus tracks.
1. Quiet, bells and quiet vocals. Between self deprecating and a story of a hooker.
2. Dance-y electronic beats and harsher vocals. Thiriwell does most of the music and it sounds like his industrial beats.
3. Mainly vocals to begin and goes from dark sounding to more and more poppy as the track progresses. The music is in the background and there is no real bat.
**4. Standard industrial dance of the day.
5. Nice quiet electronics with a strumming guitar and almost spoken singing. Her vocals sound restrained.
**6. Catchy and poppy. Strummed guitar, hand drums and confident vocals. M Gira and R Mosimann help out on this track.
7. Jazz drums and dark vocals.
8. Another track were M Gira and R Mosimann help out and it sounds a bit like track 6. Simple strummed guitar over electronics with a subtle beat.
9. Rain sounds some spoken singing and quiet keyboards. Another track that is probably autobiographical.
**10. Loud drums that sound like gun shots and dramatic vocals. “I got a gun, I got a house, I won’t stop until I get what I want”. Multi-tracked vocals during parts, one doing “la la la” and the other almost speaking.
11. Quiet music and multi-tracked vocals. Strummed guitar and quiet electronics. Stranger electronics and spoken word towards the end.
**12. Sort of a reprise of track 3 but more acoustic.
13. Big pounding drums. Sort of a chant.
14. A Folky gothy show tune?
15. Cello, some chant going on way in the background and spoken singing.
**16. Playful. Some odd mix of drunken bar song, Diamanda Galas, and a prayer. Cool.
17. Rumbling, quiet electronics drone.
Good stuff -mph