British experimental music iconoclast Dean Blunt seems to have put off recording a proper follow-up to his opaque 2014 post-punk opus Black Metal as long as contractually possible… instead releasing around a dozen other projects including collaborations with Delroy Edwards, Panda Bear, and A$AP Rocky, not to mention steering boutique side projects Babyfather and Blue Iverson. Black Metal 2 is the result of an extended 2020 session with UK producer Kwake Bass, who lends a newfangled musicality (and notably, an exquisite new drum sound) to Dean’s scrappy loop-based singer songwriter droll, while the singular talents of Mica Levi and Joanne Robertson (pure speculation, the jacket and inner sleeve are completely devoid of any credits or liner notes) lend tongue-on-battery guitar tones and heavenly folk lullabies, respectively, that will be familiar to anyone who’s been following Dean's story so far. In contrast to the protracted runtime of the first Black Metal, BM2 is tantalizingly succinct, as if Dean’s finally distilled his arrangements to maximize rewind value in the streaming era. Check out “Mugu,” “Dash Snow,” “Sketamine,” “ZaZa” and the utterly flatlining coda “The Rot” for a taste. Finally on vinyl via Rough Trade after landing digitally earlier in the year (side note, makes a nice companion piece to that new Tirzah record, supposedly recorded at the same studio with the same cohorts around the same time), recommended.

• 180g black vinyl pressing
• includes vinyl-exclusive bonus track "Astro"
• music label: Rough Trade 2021

reviewed by william, shotgun sprayer 10/2021

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• Dean Blunt: Black Metal (180g) Vinyl 2LP