Big Red Machine – Big Red Machine
(Jagjaguwar Records)
Reviewed by Emma Hughes.
Big Red Machine, the self-titled album from Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon and The National’s Aaron Dessner, is, without a doubt, experimental by design. The product of a 10 year long collaboration, the material for Big Red Machine has been the foundation for many improvised festival sets and the studio recordings on this album feature many different contributors.
In this reviewer’s opinion, it’s not the sort of album that the general listening populace will readily devour, but given the platform and process behind it, probably isn’t supposed to be – much like when I heard my uncle’s favourite freestyle jazz for the first time, my initial play through of this record left me pretty confused and questioning a good number of things. Big Red Machine is full of tracks which don’t make a lot of sense in the way that many of us are taught to consume and judge music; melodically, rhythmically, lyrically this is all over the place and, especially to begin with, it’s not an easy listen.
What is clear is that this collaboration is proof of a highly creative process. Given the space to do so, artists will express themselves, even if what comes out at the other end isn’t immediately consumable – or dare I say it, liked – by anyone else. It has an independent, festival kind of vibe about it: abstract lyrics are incoherent and rambling at times, but certain tracks come together as blatant, heartfelt poetry. Autotune is used heavily in places, and laid over frequently crunchy beats might not feel so out of place – except for the fact they’re often not in time with one another. It’s a big ask for the average listener to hear this once and stick with it, but the more I play it, the more positives I start to find.
Fifth track “Hymnostic” stands out against what came before it; a very traditional, worship-like vocal and piano arrangement is contrasted against hissing and squelchy undertones, the track becoming a fluctuation between light and dark itself as each interferes with the other. “People Lullaby” showcases Vernon’s impressive falsetto in a track with lyrics as reflective as the music – I can’t help but think that if the rest of the album was more like this I would be clutching it to my chest right now.
Ultimately, this exploratory record covers a range of musical styles. Hip-hop quite obviously influences earlier tracks such as “Lyla” and “Air Stryp”, but Big Red Machine also features some recordings which wouldn’t be too out of place on a gospel or country album – check out “I Won’t Run From It” for some real contrast to the aforementioned. It’s definitely a mixed bag, and much like many things in life the best parts come towards the end – it’s worth sticking through the first half of this unconventional album to discover what’s going on in the back.
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