Boris - LφVE & EVφL

Legendary Japanese band Boris have been going since 1992. LφVE & EVφL is their 25^th album (they have also done 13 albums in collaboration with other artists) and is intended to be viewed as two albums. The album(s) come out on Jack White’s Third Man Records.

Away From You starts with skeletal Shoegaze guitar from Wata. Takeshi and Atsuo soon join in on bass and drums. The bass-line doesn’t settle, it’s always searching for new areas to go. The vocals start and the song has an easy Post-Rock feel with a hint of Noise hovering underneath. The noise increases with a piercing guitar solo before peace is restored and the vocal song returns. Coma is noisier from the start and reveals itself to be almost 8 minutes of sculpted guitar and amp hum with ghostly vocals and lead guitar lines buried in the warm noise. It has a very calming effect on the listener. All of the second side of the first album is taken up by EVφL. Feedback and tribal drums combine to set us off at quite a pace. Things settle down after three minutes as the frantic drums drop to be replaced by ambient, sustained notes. The first vocal of the track comes in over this gentle music. It reminds me of the spiritual peace of Ulver’s Shadows Of The Sun album but then the tranquillity is split by another piercing guitar solo that leads to the vocal re-joining but with more gusto. The song then re-sets with a slightly more Post-Rock feel and a more brazen tune. They then embark on an epic ending which crashes into noise, disembodied voices and shouting. The second album begins with UZUME and further amp torture and great swathes of noise, like huge marine mammals moving around in the depths. Again, I find this stuff relaxing. The other title track follows with a continuation of the huge noises and an exploratory Space-Rock guitar solo. Twin vocals come in, with the third member of Boris joining soon after to create a spooky coven of voices. LφVE has some great noises and really out-there vocals and reminds me of Bardo Pond a bit. The final side of LφVE & EVφL begins with In The Pain(t). It is a (relatively) short, quiet instrumental that serves as a moment of peace before the eleven minute album closer – Shadow Of Skull. It starts out as super-slow Doom but with a more melodic and restrained vocal. Again, it reminds me of the deeper approach to Extreme Metal used by Ulver. The vocal is pushed as the intensity builds but the pace stays funereal. Slowly the band is engulfed in noise. A fitting ending to yet another belter from Boris.

I’ve used genres like Doom, Shoegaze and Post-Rock to try to describe Boris but really they out-date most of these genres and have long lifted themselves above such forms of description to become a genre of their own - like Miles Davis or Neil Young. Their range is huge - from quiet, spiritual passages to all-out noise. They show no signs of tiring or losing inspiration. If you like Boris, you’ll like this. If you don’t know Boris, you’ve got quite a heavy schedule ahead of you but you can start with this.