While Moore's previous solo albums have both been song-oriented, this one is an all-out noise affair. The first piece, "Sensitive", comes on like a compressed history of guitar as noise-maker, from echoes of Hendrix wail and Velvet's primitive rhythmic pound (in a not always audible acoustic guitar underneath), to intimations of Arto, Rudolph Grey and the current crop of string-manglers, all piled on top of each other and smeared with a greasy hand.
The second, shorter piece "Whisper", has been described by others as softer or quieter, but it's simply less dense than the opener, with a looping whine and over-amped squeaking swing-set overlaid with car horns, or maybe they're chords. It serves as an introduction to the final assault. "Lethal" zeroes in on single "chords" that become distorted beyond recognition as they fade, accompanied by a shrill whistling that I took at first to be some aberration of my hearing. Continuing with start/stop blasts and layers of electronic noises. You might not think these were guitars if you didn't know it already (and perhaps they're not?) Howling metal is a phrase that leaps to mind. This last piece is more varied than the first two, episodic even, with events arranged sequentially rather than layered simultaneously.
Hearing this disc, I was reminded of friends who are unaccustomed to "noise-music", and how they will, upon hearing some, comment about what kind of film the sounds might accompany. The tracks of Sensitive/Lethal would no doubt fit perfectly with some Hollywood nightmare epic.
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