While perhaps best known as a veteran of the industrial scene for his work with Ministry and Revolting Cocks, Murder Inc. and Pigface, Chris Connelly has also forged an extensive catalogue of solo recordings, as well as having two books to his name. His output never fails to be innovative and idiosyncratic, and 'How This Ends,' his twelfth solo album since 1991's 'Whiplash Boychild' is no exception.
Touted as Connelly's 'most extreme' release to date, it might not be relentlessly extreme in sonic terms, but then an album doesn't have to sound like Sunn O))) or Whitehouse to push the parameters, and there are more kind of extremity than pure sonic punishment. And so 'How This Ends' finds other ways of challenging musical conventions and the listener. Yes, there are moments of brutal noise (and avant-garde jazz sax), but on this release Connelly tests the narrow parameters of contemporary 'songwriting' to create something that's not an easy listen, but most definitely a rewarding one. 'How This Ends' contains only two tracks, effectively corresponding to the two sides of a vinyl LP (or a cassette). Side one has a duration of thirty minutes; side two lasts twenty-one.
Each of the tracks builds layers of unsettling industrial ambience created from loops and a range of unidentifiable miscellaneous sounds and drones, over which segments of narrative drift, interspersed with gentler, more melodic soundscapes, piano passages and movements that are compellingly atmospheric. There are some parts that are almost recognisable as tune-carrying songs, but they're incorporated within the wider sonic expanse, drifting in from nowhere and drifting out just as rapidly.
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A lengthy span of Part 2's twenty-one minutes takes a leaf out of Michael Gira's songwriting book, and is occupied by a simple riff played on acoustic guitar and repeated, repeated, repeated to mantric effect.
'How This Ends' is not immediatelym accessible and is even hard going at times, but is an intense and ambitious album that's brilliantly realised and rewards the listener who invests time and attention. A triumph.
Chris Connelly online
Lens Records online
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