Enablers - Zones

There are not many spoken word post-rock albums around. Actually, not many spoken word rock albums either, and those great beat poets/jazz albums are unfortunately gathering dust somewhere. If why is the question, then the answer is quite easy - it is complicated. Often, this is just considered a pure experiment, because it is really damn hard to have the meaning and the rhythm of the spoken words coalesce with the rhythm and/or melody of the music. A possible mismatch simply grates on the ear.

Based on Zones, their fifth album, San Francisco quartet Enablers do not seem to have that problem. Maybe it is the fact that they have been doing this kind of music for 15 years now (their first album EndNote was released in 2004), maybe it lies with the dual guitars of Jeff Goldring and Kevin Robert Thompson, who jointly have extensive playing experience with the likes of Swans, Toiling Midgets and Nice Strong Arm, among others, or it could be that Enablers don’t have an ‘overburdened’ rhythm section, which only consists of drummer Joe Frank Burns.

But that is only a maybe if the poetry of Pete Simonelli, the band’s obvious guiding light, or the way he delivers it were lousy or completely out of synch with the music. Luckily none of that is the case. The moment “Even It's Lies”, (along with the title track, the best thing on the album) opens, you realize you are in for a goosebump-filled experience. Simonelli not only comes up with good words, but he delivers them in such a natural, non-contrived way, completely in tune with the musicians. You simply cannot distinguish the difference whether he is following the rest of the band or it is the other way around, they just work as an organic unit together.

What makes it even more intriguing is that most of the time, as on the tracks like “Cha Cha Cha” or “Squint”, Enablers function as a true guitar-driven post-rock band, anywhere on the line between Slint and Godspeed! You Black Emperor, making that link between spoken word and music an even more complex thing to achieve. And yes, they do achieve it!