Sunburned Hand of The Man first came to worldwide prominence thanks to an article in experimental music bible the Wire, which spoke of a new “weird America,’ and introduced the Massachusetts based improvised freak folksters. It turns out that Kieran Hebden (Four Tet) also picked up the article, not only inviting them to tour with him but offering to record and mix them. Hebden is increasingly becoming known for more than his sugary “folktronica,’ his recent collaborations with percussionist Steve Reid in particular highlight his yen towards not just free jazz but a fusion with more electronic instruments. Fire Escape continues this vein. Given four hours to record, Hebden effectively acted as leader, stripping the eight into different subsets and then suggested what they play, allowing the band to improvise around these suggestions. He then constructed and mixed these tracks according to his vision of what the Sunburned Hand of Man should be. And it’s really interesting, some tracks take on a Krautrock feel, such as nice butterfly mask, staying on a locked bass and percussion groove for an inordinate amount of time, with various sounds careering in and out, yet in the breakdown he displays another much more abstract side to his personality, obtuse sounds strangely mixed before returning to the original groove. His willingness to not only let the freaks get freaky, but actually lead them there makes Fire Escape so compelling. Other pieces lose the groove, operating in a collision of sounds, often just barely flirting with musicality and operating in a more musique concrete arena. Yet in Hebden’ hands even the discordant, the atonal, the abrasive all seem musical. It’s an album filled with little experiments, effects running through the percussion, bizarre loops, strange fragments of sound that shouldn’ exist together yet are somehow assembled in opportune ways that make sense musically. With similarly discordant artwork from Eye (Boredoms) and perhaps a gentle nod of acknowledgement from both parties, Fire Escape is a joyful unwieldy mess of ideas, innovation and experimentation that works.
Bob Baker Fish
