As their name implies, Los Angeles based Black Math Horseman ride like a fearsome headless spirit into the wild dark woods of a full-moonlit night. Composed of Sera Timms (bass/vocals), Ian Barry (guitar) Bryan Tulao (guitar) and Sasha Popovic (drums), this ethereally forboding quartet present a strangely bipolar sound, both heavy as the vast expanse of a black night sky and light as a spirit lifting from an ancient curse.
TEXT BY: SASHA LEE
PHOTOGRAPHY & VIDEO BY: JENNIFER ZILIOTTO
In keeping with their unique brand of black-cauldron black magic & white metal wyzzyrdry, Sorcerer played the Relax Bar recently this Friday the 13th. A fitting time for this coven of magicians to meet, in fact- Friday was originally named after Frigga, an epic Norse goddess of love! When she was banished by marauding Germanic Christian tribes to a high lonesome mountain, Frigga became an evil witch of doom. Thus every Friday, the spiteful goddess convened a meeting of eleven other witches and the devil made thirteen, and plotted all ill fate for the coming week. For centuries in my favorite land of Scandinavia, Friday was known as “Witches Sabbath.” Anyways, these highly skilled mages in the craft of shredding joined forces to produce a lightening bolt sound shocking to most mortal ears! The full moon most definitely shined her dark side on Sorcerer that night.
Trembling Bells are a Glasgow based quartet that resurrect early folk-rock sounds from the misty green pastures and deep-watery wells of a Great Britain’s psychi. Their weeping willow ballads are akin to the sorrow-tainted joy of the ever reclusive sun peeking through a grey British sky; loaded with fleeting joy and pressing knowledge that the instant is transitory, doomed. I was instantly reminded of fellow Glasgow wistful pop group Belle & Sebastian, in their quiet force-but also some of the best in stripped down country-folk, in particular Fairport Convention’s Liege & Lief. Singer Lavinia’s soaring, high pitched vocals sound as if British folk singer Vashti Bunyan somehow managed to transcend her eminent shyness. In fact, in the same way Bunyan fled London town in a horse and cart for the pastures of the Isle of Skye, Trembling Bells seemingly join Donovan hand-in-hand for the revolution of folk in the western shores of Scotland. This is beautifully idyllic music tained with the fate of its own demise. Trembling Bells will be releasing a full length shortly- look out for an interview & album review.
A melancholic attempt at a love song about the fatal spells of crimson lips over ill-fated boys willingly throwing themselves into a doomed lover’s arms.
