This CD, as far as I can tell, was released in 2004, and London residents BRUISE have been hiking around and beyond Britain with its songs in their repertoire and its jewel cases in their transit van ever since.
It was passed to me by a fierce and independent-minded fellow who has a terrific knack for homing in on unique artists who don’t necessarily click with the demographics of commercial marketing, but who …
Well. Who just make good music. Isobel Morris sings and plays guitar. Jim Kimberley drums, samples and sings. Very simple really. Simple, rasping and glorious.
Their nine tracks of sharply defined power pop/rock melody have echoes of Placebo or Annie Lennox about them. Plus a lot more. Guitar parts are tastily wired spangled and thundered. Vocals swoop, harmonise deliciously and then subvert. Drums bounce and drive. Sampled noise is used sparingly throughout, and for emotional reasons only. I think if emo was made by adults it might sound a bit like this. Emotionally stretched, heartbreakingly sexual. Damn fine.
Do you have music that changes your body chemistry? Can you feel the way some records ripple those goose bumps across your skin? And how they do intravenous things that put hopeful feelings into your skull? How they change the way that light glints on your retina? It's like that for me with BRUISE.
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Each of the nine songs is a strong thing, with a life of its own. I especially like opening ""Excuse Me" with its distant woo hoo and its sudden explosive rush of enthusiasm and yearning. Killer harmonies too. I love closer "Silvertown" just as much. Gentler and more reflective, it has acoustic guitar in the foreground and the lightest of samples picking out a more complex urban scenario. The lyrics wryly set out the unremarkable dullness of mundane city life, and then burst apart as a sudden transformation into a gorgeous chorus of love and affection. On which, quite suddenly the album ends. And demands to be switched on again. Mercifully, a second wave of tune kicks in before I can get to the replay button and we get the massive smile of HAWKWIND's Silver Machine. If you've ever loved that tune – here are BRUISE also loving it and doing it more than justice. It's a pleasure.
www.bruisemusic.co.uk
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