Album Review: Slow Draw - The People’s Department of Governmental Checks & Balances
Reviewed by Dan Barnes
The solo project of Mark Kitchens, one-third of Texan stoner/ sludge trio Stone Machine Electric, Slow Draw is releasing a new, five-track platter mere months after January’s Living in the Land of Scarecrows.
The People’s Department of Checks & Balances is a continuation of that twenty-three-minute piece and expands the ideas through a series of ambient drones, psychedelics and atmospherics, and is five tracks of very different – yet somehow conjunctive – compositions.
Mark’s past-history with the Sludge genre comes to the fore on Data Corrupter which comes over like a low-fi, fuzzed-up version of Electric Wizard at times. The repetition of its fetid riff evokes Eyehategod’s swampy vibes and there is an unmistakeable drone element lurking beneath the surface.
Trying to Land is the records first (of three) singles and further considers the use of endlessly recycling riffs delivered hypnotically; here, the low chugging strings are complemented by a constant cymbal, all without the possibility of a resolution.
The record begins with the aptly-titled A Misleading Sense of Direction which sets the listener at ease with its neo-Dub and gentle, sustained chords. True to its word, the tune has a conversation between what sounds like a pilot in trouble and the air traffic controller attempting to bring him home safely.
It becomes a familiar motif right the way through the album, as each song incorporates a polyglot of voices which, though barely audible, can be discerned to be commenting on the state of the world.
Investing Scapegoats utilises clean strings and an almost western feel, accompanied by haunting vocals, it’s a warm, lush tune that is anchored by a robust bassline.
Central to the record is the thirteen-minute drone of Paradise of Fools. It’s a harsh, pulsating piece, akin to Sunn O))), except making more of the transitions between phrases. Guitars scream and howl with strangled fright, sounding like tormented and tortured souls. This has all the comfort of a vortex dragging the listener into the pit of Hades, almost quarter of an hour of dissonance and pain, delivered without respite and without chance of escape. A solitary drum beats a slow toll as the climax approaches, the noise coming over like the fierce winds of the second circle; as the creatures that dwell in that abyss move ever closer.
It’s interesting to consider the song titles together and draw the inference that Mr Kitchen is not enamoured by the state of the world at the moment. In the press blurb, Mark is quoted as stating: “nothing is logical, so, this mess of songs reflects that kind of chaos and frustration”.
The linking factors between songs may take some exploration, but the constant presence of disembodied voices would give a clue to how all this fits together. Like many pieces of Modern Art, it is up to the consumer to decide what – if any – meaning can be taken away.
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