As Morton Valence, Robert ‘Hacker’ Jessett and Anne Gilpin are no strangers to absurdist parodies and gallows humour. As Black Angel Drifter they delve into still darker territory.
Look at the cover and you find yourself staring into the barrel of a gun as the duo adopt Bonnie & Clyde poses or whatever the equivalent characters would be in a Gothic, Morricone-esque Western.
Unglamorously, the ten tracks for the album were recorded and mixed in a lock-up in Whitstable and feature the pedal-steel guitar of Alan Cook, Vladimir Strkalj of Balkan gypsy band Paprika on bass, guitarist Stuart Jones, and minimal drumming from Chizuru Nukui .
The band bill themselves as a short-term theatrical hybrid and come complete with a soundtrack of muddy blues and desperado dirges.
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They re-work Dylan's The Man with the Long Black Coat and explore fictional lives of those down on their luck or at the end of their tether.
For an indication of the bleak content you often need look no further than titles like: Black-Eyed Susan, Sister Pain and Trail of Tears.
Jessett and Gilpin say this will be Black Angel Drifter's only release and as such could be considered as a kind of catharsis with the duo dicing briefly with the devil before returning to a more settled existence. Enter at your own risk.
Morton Valence's website
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