Obliterating any easy genre label that's thrown their way, super-group (of sorts) Hen Ogledd have returned to please and further confound. Their new record, Discombobulated is out this week. And if you guessed that it was a neat blending of folk rock and art rock traditions, as well as much more, you'd be right.
Dawn Bothwell, Rhodri Davies, Richard Dawson, and Sally Pilkington are Hen Ogledd. The tunes here run from the brief to the epic-length. Throughout all of them there's a striving for something more than just the usual contemporary indie. Judged on ambition alone, Discombobulated is a triumph. However, what's it sound like, you might ask?
"Scales Will Fall" is free jazz atop an almost Beefheart-ish gleeful disconstruction of expectations, while "Dead in a Post-Truth World" is nearly as good as its title, offering shouty post-rock of a sort that seems like a distant cousin of The Fall. Very distant, I should stress. The funky "End of the Rhythm" reveals a debt owed to Can, and I suppose you could find other portions of this record where you could say the same thing. "Clear Pools" is 19 minutes long and it's nearly the sort of thing that elevates this album into greatness. To attempt such a track earns this band credit in my book, and it makes Discombobulation an album which, while obtuse and cryptic in many ways, is one which rewards an attentive listener.
Discombobulated by Hen Ogledd is out today from Domino.
[Photo: Domino]