GUDRUN

PIERROT LUNAIRE started out as a more normal Italian folk band when it released its first eponymous album in 1974 but after a few years when the more adventurous side of progressive music was waning rather than waxing the band took the absolute opposite approach and created a more experimental, avant-garde and progressive approach with their 2nd album GUDRUN. Despite the folk aspect being weirded out to the nth degree it is still to be found alternating with strange electronic embellishments, diva soprano vocals and a healthy dose of the avant-garde without overdosing on any particular element. In fact, the whole thing comes together quite well despite there being seemingly totally disparate sounds fighting for dominance at any given moment. Once usurpation of a particular sound or style has settled in, thankfully is allowed to run its course before the next one intervenes the possible boredom that could occur if allowed to ramble beyond its approved time slot.

The band took their name from the famous classical composition by Arnold Schoenberg, who is known for his avant-garde approach to classical music incorporating atonality and developed the twelve-tone technique. Likewise with the band's namesake, they utilize the avant-garde to really spice up their folk influences to the point it doesn't often sound like folk anymore. This is one of those albums where you can put aside any expectations of what you think will happen and just surrender to the music and let PIERROT LUNAIRE do the driving. You do have to put on your seat belts because they do come awfully close to driving off the cliffs yet always at the nick of time are saved by a mysterious chimera pushing the brake pedal. I am very intrigued by this album to say the least. It nourishes my inner freak-a-zoid like very few albums can. The fact is that there is really nothing else that i've personally heard that sounds anything even close to this one. The weirdness and the accessible play together like a tiger and a lamb giving the impression of eminent mortality but always emerging unexpectedly in a truce between the polar opposites. A must-hear for all you demented sonic sluts who just can't satiate your appetite for the weirdest and wildest that experimental music has to offer.