LIVE AT BAM BALAM

You'd think growing older might mellow an artist out, or that they'd prefer to play things nice and safe, but not so French musician Richard Pinhas, founding member of legendary Seventies electronic project Heldon. His LP contribution to Record Store Day 2019 is `Live at Bam Balam', recorded on two separate dates between 2016-18 in Bordeaux, France, and it's home to two side-long, fully improvised pieces of guitar, electronics and delay, all twisted together into a feral drone of delicious stormy noise.

Churning electric guitars snarl into sucking vacuums of wicked distortion, chiming electronics spiral into the heavens, and jagged shards of crystalline beauty slice the senses. Fleeting moments break into Robert Fripp-like splintering pierces and the cluttering violence of the wilder Seventies King Crimson improvisations, and even ambient reflections are laced with a subdued trace of dangerous unease. Slow to unfold and constantly evolving, the two long-form pieces here reveal endless dark mystery and a scuzzy contemplative atmosphere.

Audiophiles beware - this recording comes close to an `Official Bootleg' kind of sound quality, so those wanting pristine recordings of a modern standard should keep well away. But the sonic murk gives the performances a tough and honest grit, and it helps make `Live at Bam Balam' a welcome Record Store Day release, and another fascinating addition to the eclectic and daring discography of Richard Pinhas.

Three and a half stars, but four for Heldon/Pinhas freaks.