Animal Hospital Memory

Title: Animal Hospital - Memory
Label: Barge Recordings
Cataloge No: BRG007
Type: Album
Reviewer: Rich
Date: 12, March, 2009

Barge Records are on a roll: having released 6 wonderful records over the past few years, you would think that somewhere along the way there must be a slight falter in quality and musical genius. But no, this latest release by the New York based label is another absolute stunner. Animal Hospital is a one man band of epic proportions. Beautiful guitar manipulation, backed with the odd bit of percussion and a ton of random effects and it sounds like any other solo drone/noise project... But it's not. Over the 7 tracks on Memory, Kevin Micka somehow manages to pull off something more akin to a trio of musicians (if not more) on his own and with almost faultless brilliance that quite literally fucks with what you should be expecting from an album that appears to be from another solo guitarist with a ton of pedals.

Opening with the simple melody of Good Times, music box and awkwardly plucked guitar in hand, things get underway for real with the 17+ minute His Belly Bursts. Now each track here is supposed to be a memory of sorts of the musician's. Title wise I have no idea but this is sublime stuff indeed, although how the title fits in with the music is anyone's guess. Simulated(?) strings slowly ebb away in the distance whilst silent percussion bounces in and out underneath with an undertone so utterly downbeat its crippling. Heartache seems to be a theme here, as with the rest of the album... and then it almost explodes... almost, never quite hitting that extreme peak but somehow it feels just right, the chugging power chord loop and the almost anticipated percussion is unexpected and uplifting to the max.

And then slowly, very slowly, it fades away...
Like a distant memory...
And then it gets brutal....

Something almost totally unexpected happens from here on in and without killing the mystery of this almost unclassifiable album, you don't expect to come across something quite so oddly out of place yet utterly perfectly positioned as ...And Ever on a record that has so far been beautifully and gut wrenchingly composed. It's almost as if Boris have taken over and decided enough is enough and something needs to explode. And it certainly does just that. Vocals and dirty guitar solos rip through the centrepiece track like a tidal wave of immense destruction and all you can do is go with it, all the while trying not to look down for fear of quite literally hitting the floor from a hell of a height.

And then? It's gone again, back down to Earth with a hangover but no headache to speak of. A little time passes and some small almost interlude pieces slot into place like the peace in the eye of a storm. So back down to Earth, quietly and slowly brooding away, dreaming of the clouds and thinking of the ground and its restrictions. Memory brings the album to a close with almost horrific beauty, doing what the album was expected to do by making everything dark around you and letting you feel something more human. And it's wonderful. Enlightening almost, yet still keeping that heartache and longing right there in your ear drums.

Memory hits you in the face, then lets you go again and drops you back down, and all the while you quite simply can't comprehend something that feels so very personal without wanting to listen again and again and again. Micka has thrilled me with this, as have Barge. You couldn't really ask for a more eccentric and beautiful body of work on one CD. This one is special stuff that words really can not define without missing the point totally. Like I have probably done here. Excellent stuff indeed.

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