Expressions of a world and a mind in flux. ‘Glosso Babel’ is hypnotic, jazz-like and surrealist.
Words by Brad Harris | Photo by Jason Sheehan
“Glosso Babel means nothing to me, oh well,” intones Arthur Nolan at the tail end of Blue Bendy’s latest track of the same name. Part of me wishes I’d known this before attempting to transcribe all the lyrics on a word document as if trying to unravel some unhidden truth. Nonetheless, the half-spoken words hit me in the same way as reading John Ashbery; struggling with the same almost-graspable expressions of a world and a mind in flux (to say nothing of an identical fascination with trees).
Similarly, as with previous releases, the sonic picture is also one of fluidity and unrest. It’s hypnotic, jazz-like and surrealist, caught somewhere between The Smiths, Art Blakey and Pere Ubu. And like previous releases demonstrated, the six-piece, never ones to wear out a melody, change gears into an almost bawdy theatrical moment at around the halfway mark.
If it all sounds like a lot, that’s because it joyfully is. By the final moments the song is stacked like a postmodern totem to the abundance or art forms the so-called Bendy navigate, threatening to destroy itself out of sheer ambition before dropping us back at the start. What a ride! Find the band on Spotify here.
hardofhearingmagazine.com 