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Alarm Agents is the first official collaboration between Death in June and Boyd Rice. They've worked on each other's projects before, but this is the first album under both their own names. I was really looking forward to the cooperation, because I generally like both artists' material, and was thankfully not disappointed. The result is a varied album with a blend of acoustic singer/songwriter-like folk tracks, like we know them from later Death in June, and the experimental electronic tracks in Boyd Rice's style. Two different styles that form a coherent whole on this album. The percussion on the album is by John Murphy (known from, among others, KnifeLadder and The Sword Volcano Complex).
There are a lot of tracks on the album, and I'll treat some of the more conspicuous ones. There seems to be a recurring theme in the steadily returning pieces of dialogue between the tracks, which were samples from the movie Night Tide (like "You Love the Sun" and "You Love the Sun and the Moon"). These clips gradually disappear, to return briefly at the end in "We're All a Little Afraid"; a nice theme. "Black Sun Rising" is a nice and calm acoustic track, with guitars and synths in the Death in June vein. A comparable track is the beautiful and restrained "Storm on the Sea (Out Beyond Land)", which for me is the highlight of the album, because of the beautiful melody and special lyrics. "Deeper than Love" is also good, an ominous track in the style of Boyd Rice with different electronic and acoustic effects and prolific spoken sample. Finally, I'd like to mention "Get Used to Saying No", which contains a typical Boyd Rice speech, telling us we need to stand up for ourselves: "You're not a dollar bill to be liked by everyone." The other tracks are pretty good as well, although not every one of them is able to stand out. The general style isn't very innovative either, compared to previous material of the artists, but it is still an interesting album with some great and dark tracks.
Alarm Agents is a well-succeeded synthesis of the works of Death in June and Boyd Rice. For people who are unfamiliar with these artists, this could be a nice introduction. Lovers of either artist can buy this album blindly.
D.M.K.
There are a lot of tracks on the album, and I'll treat some of the more conspicuous ones. There seems to be a recurring theme in the steadily returning pieces of dialogue between the tracks, which were samples from the movie Night Tide (like "You Love the Sun" and "You Love the Sun and the Moon"). These clips gradually disappear, to return briefly at the end in "We're All a Little Afraid"; a nice theme. "Black Sun Rising" is a nice and calm acoustic track, with guitars and synths in the Death in June vein. A comparable track is the beautiful and restrained "Storm on the Sea (Out Beyond Land)", which for me is the highlight of the album, because of the beautiful melody and special lyrics. "Deeper than Love" is also good, an ominous track in the style of Boyd Rice with different electronic and acoustic effects and prolific spoken sample. Finally, I'd like to mention "Get Used to Saying No", which contains a typical Boyd Rice speech, telling us we need to stand up for ourselves: "You're not a dollar bill to be liked by everyone." The other tracks are pretty good as well, although not every one of them is able to stand out. The general style isn't very innovative either, compared to previous material of the artists, but it is still an interesting album with some great and dark tracks.
Alarm Agents is a well-succeeded synthesis of the works of Death in June and Boyd Rice. For people who are unfamiliar with these artists, this could be a nice introduction. Lovers of either artist can buy this album blindly.
D.M.K.