Sunset Mission

Album review

The music that Bohren makes has fallen under the heavy metal/doom rubric, but this is both inaccurate and unfair to the band and its music. While the former members of hardcore legends 7 Inch Boots, Chronical Diarrhoea, and Macabre Farmhouse may have once played fast and heavy, on Sunset Mission they completely drop the metal overtones that appeared on Gore Motel and stand resolutely in the late-night jazz-noir camp. The cover of the album shows night descending on the wet streets of a residential/industrial landscape. The music included within is for a couple of hours later, when there is only darkness and the breath of a saxophone to keep you company. Reminiscent of Trevor Jones (Angel Heart) or Angelo Badalamenti's soundtrack work (especially for Mulholland Drive), Bohren & der Club of Gore rely on understated Fender Rhodes, piano, double bass, gentle brush work on drums, and a lilting tenor saxophone. Sounding like a long suite collectively improvised and not a collection of individually composed songs, Sunset Mission showcases the contributions of each member equally. Morten Gass' stunning keyboard work is balanced by Christoph Closer's emotional tenor sax. Underlining each track are Thorsten Benning's subtle kit work and the slow-motion groove of Robin Rodenberg's double bass. And while it is easy to fall into hyperbole when describing Bohren's music, they themselves are masters of the restraint necessary for this type of jazz to work and be compelling. This is slow, dark, and especially lush jazz, perfect for a booth at the back of a narcoleptic lounge, with a cigarette slowly burning down past the filter, watching secret lies being passed between one-night lovers.

© James Mason /TiVo