Oakland trio Clipd Beaks are often overlooked in modern experimental rock. Succeeding their rather Liars-inspired Hoarse Lords came To Realize in 2010, an effort that didn't seem like a great departure yet brought their psychedelic nuances to a nearly overwhelming summit. In the opus's coma-inducing haze existed windswept guitar drones, spellbinding grooves, and a narcotic delivery from frontman Nick Barbeln. His contributions to the band on the album were inventive, considering that his howls and tortured string slapback had morphed into an opiate and unearthly whole.
ReRisen, Barbeln's solo debut under the moniker Snake, is further testament to his creativity as a form of self-exploration. In its liner notes he states, "I made this album as a test of myself, to see if I could change something w/in me. I did," and the music is living proof. A slowly rotating keyboard arpeggio opens the elegiac "Teeth Cleaning Like A Prayer", on which Barbeln's multi-tracked voice laments "There has got to be another way / these conditions have been messing up my day." By its close, a viscous stream of blurred sounds enter the fold and could readily be attributed to the disorienting crescendos of latter-day Clipd Beaks.
Little ties ReRisen together, and Barbeln's conscious of this. Be it a motif as simple as the warped 2-second loop on "Zep and Go Down" or a concept as fleshed out as the surreal blues dirge "Get Back", the well rarely seems to run dry. Those spare moments of misdirection would be found in the in-the-red "GTR!" and "Worm Life Moan", which is an interlude at worst. The unambiguous title of "Untitled, Unfinished" doesn't even succeed in denoting the track's kitchen-sink curiosity.
Snake proves itself to be a project unafraid of originality, but the final two cuts are pronounced references to other artists. Beck's sitar- and string-adorned "Nobody's Fault But My Own" is dismantled into a chorus-fed guitar and Barbeln's fragile moan, led to ascension by a hallucinatory sax solo. Closer "White Magic" samples Moondog's "Rimshot", its galloping percussion guiding the otherwise mind-melting raga. Not only does ReRisen array the distinction brought to Clipd Beaks, but it also demonstrates how well the character stands on its own.
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[Buy/Download ReRisen from Snake]
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