Sex Gang Children – Salamun Child EP review
Seven years have passed since the last Sex Gang Children album, ‘Bastard Art!’. And though the line between Sex Gang Children and Andi Sex Gang is quite thin, the release of the new EP Sex Gang Children ‘Salamun Child’ on songandlegend.com, especially, as the forerunner of the next band’s album, is very important and singly expected event for the whole world of individual music.
As usual, the EP is incomparable with any other SGC release. The headline song ‘Salamun Child’ has ASG dynamism and SGC temper. The song’s background is wonderfully combined of ‘crying’ violin by Anna Phoebe and mystical lines of two acoustic guitars. This song also reflects the Sex Gang thing of working with the musical motion and alchemy between the elements, where not even musical lines or words but every letter is pronounced and every note is played in its special way in order to achieve the effect. The next song is the dub version of well known cover of ‘Kriminaltango’, which was made by duo of Andi Senx Gang and Lucas Lanthier (Cinema Strange, Deadfly Ensemble). The previous version of the song was released on Andi’s solo album ‘The Madman in the Basket’, and truly speaking, this dub version could fit this album much better. In comparison with the previous version, this one is more minimal and tempered, and the Lanthier’s voice part is cut. So the song got more spoken word thing and obscure and very tense atmosphere. The original mix of ‘Joy’ continues the EP. This mix was done during the ‘Bastard Art!’ sessions, but remixed for the finished album. This mix is livelier and more energetic if compare it with the original version. Partly it was achieved by making thicker the instrument lines and the vocals as well. The mix has plenty of small changes, and once again, there should be mentioned the Sex Gang thing – the preference of accents, which can change the song almost at all. The next song is the demo version of ‘Religion Free Zone’, composed and played by Andi only. The guitar sound causes the question here – is that Andi Sex Gang or Barbarossa, the author of ‘The Wrath of God’? However, this song seems to have the ‘Bastard Art!’ references as well. So the song is a kind of mix of Andi’s experimental works and the Sex Gang Children stuff, and the absence of any drums underlines this mix effect quite well. The song which closes the EP is the first ‘official’ release of well known by ASG fans ‘Die Traube’. This lyrical and expressive acoustic song as well has experimental backgrounds, which are not so evident for this time. Also Andi continues in this song his experiments with mixing of languages in lyrics, and this thing reflects the song’s expression in very charming way.
So this EP once again proves that there’s no use in any forecasts about the music of Andi’s future releases. It always will sound unexpected, even if the stuff seems well known. ‘Salamun Child’ is the 100% pearl for every SGC fan, but it also will be interesting for everyone who doesn’t accept any borders in music.
Pall ‘Nattsol’ Zarutskiy
‘Grave Jibes Fanzine’
