BIG|BRAVE – A Chaos Of Flowers | soundsfromthedarkside

BigBrave A Chaos of Flowers_frontcover_SftDS Do you want more of the same or want more than you could imagine? Let’s talk about Big Brave’s evolution for a bit.

Robin Wattie is a boss, or no wait, Big Brave and everything that surrounds them are bosses. Since a decade or so the band has been experimenting in the alt-metal scene with minimal to loud explorations. With each subsequent release, including Au De La (2015), A Gaze Among Them (2019) and Vital (2021), the band delved deeper into sonic experimentation, incorporating elements of drone, ambient, and even free jazz into their compositions. Together with The Body they also served up a work of folk with an alt-metal twist that got the full Big Brave treatment on last year’s wildly fierce Nature Morte. This album felt like a pinnacle in their incremental development of their minimal-massive approach and we felt it was time for something else.

With something else we of course don’t want Big Brave to change into a hooky indie band but we want to hear a band that steps out of the swirling storm of riffs, distortion and pummelling rhythms. Well, the first point to make is that this release does just that but still pushes their slow core with a different kind of intensity. A Chaos Of Flowers kicks off with i felt a funeral that in six minutes plays out as a tranquil ritual procession which is founded in a strain of blues distortion. Wattie tells a dark folkloric story, and is vocally given more room to breathe. Her voice sometimes hides between reverb but at other times comes forward and sounds fragile. On the spacious, almost mystic beauty of canon: in canon the band even shows off their newfound sound: determined singing of Wattie, subtle percussives of Tasy Hudson, echoing chords of Mathieu Ball plus guest guitarist Marisa Anderson’s patterns all merge intuitively.

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A Chaos of Flowers surly offers some heavy riffing and droning but these sounds are never let loose. Mathieu Ball’s arcing guitar sound and tonal control are outstanding and reach a peak on the other-worldly quotidian : solemnity. Here cloister echoing vocals are sharpened with synths accents as Ball’s distortion surges through. On theft and moonset the controlled, almost subdued, heaviness returns. Both songs sound ominous because of the use of a bass synth and Wattie’s eerie tranquil singing. Only Anderson’s experimental guitar play brings in more relief on moonset.

Throughout the album, Big Brave masterfully balances raw energy with delicate restraint, creating moments of both eeriness and tranquillity. A Chaos of Flowers marks a significant evolution of their signature sound while staying true to their DNA. Bringing input from other musicians, like Marisa Anderson or sax-player Patrick Shiroish into a previously tightly welded compositional group can be risky as compromise can threaten focus but here it works very well as they fit very well in the collective.

Compared to Nature Morte and its dark cover art it’s safe to say that this latest release is a companion album. It’s also safe to say that if you are familiar with the band’s earlier work as mentioned above a trip to the recordstore for Nature Morte is not strictly necessary. On A Chaos of Flowers, Big Brave doesn’t take one incremental step forward but several steps and still live up to their name with or without that annoying pipe symbol. Now could we be on the brink of giant steps? Time will tell, for now just plunge yourself in these new explorations.