Boris – Heavy Rocks

It all comes together on this unexpected “sequel” from Japanese genre-benders

It has gradually become accepted wisdom for devotees of the Japanese trio Boris that regardless of pre-release hype you can never be quite sure which Boris is going to show up. Or rather, which combination of the many different Borises.

The band has always been known for their stylistic schizophrenia, which saw them leap from drone to garage rock to psychedelia to lounge-inflected pop across separate releases – typically coming at the rate of two or three new albums per year. The many different styles, all executed with the same fervour, were typically segregated from each other from release to release, meaning Boris albums were easily categorisable as the “sludge record” or the “hardcore record” etc. However,  if preliminary listens to Heavy Rocks - one of the four albums they will be releasing this year – is any indication, 2011 may be the year in which Boris sheds those constraints completely.

Fans familiar with the 2002 Boris album of the same name would be forgiven for expecting 2011′s reboot to be another relentless barrage of Stooges ‘n’ Sabbath worship but the closest Heavy Rocks gets to the original are early cuts ‘Riot Sugar’ and ‘Galaxians’. ‘Riot Sugar’ immediately evokes the 2002 Heavy Rocks with its sludge-laden opening and signature Boris drum sound. Past Boris collaborator and Cult front-man Ian Astbury adds backing vocals so archly rock and roll that they seem at once a wink and at the same time, completely natural; a dichotomy which is characteristic of Boris’ conscious duality. ‘Galaxians’, whilst musically as similar to a 2002 Heavy Rocks track as the new record gets, pointedly differentiates itself from the dirty lo-fi sound of 2002 by plastering the track with long vocal delays on drummer/singer Atsuo’s crazed whoops and spacey synth washes.

From there, it starts to get surprising. In the band’s own words, Heavy Rocks is their effort “to seek to redefine ‘heavy’ music in a culmination of the band’s tireless efforts over the past two decades”. Indicative of this are the two twelve-minute pillars of the album -’Missing Pieces’ and ‘Aileron’. Both songs explore the boundaries of sonic heaviness and practically define the term “slow burn”. ‘Missing Pieces’ is all sparse and clean guitar fighting waves of feedback clawing at the song’s edges, before the long-anticipated release as the drums come crashing in and lead guitarist Wata unleashes one of her wailing, unearthly solos before collapsing into squalls of white noise. Yet throughout the quiet verse and torrential chorus, a sense of calm and restraint pervades; a near-unbearable tension, as though there is still something being held back. ‘Aileron’, which is featured as a 2 min acoustic song-sketch on Attention Please (to be released on the same day as Heavy Rocks), is a gorgeously simple epic, reminiscent of “Farewell” from Boris’ breakthrough 2005 LP Pink. Atsuo and bassist Takeshi lay down a roiling bed of distortion upon which Wata unfurls some of her most breathtaking lead guitar work yet.

Of particular note is the now-pervasive pop sensibility evident across the breadth of Heavy Rocks, something hinted at on 2008′s Smile and explored in a more singular manner on their release of earlier this year, New Album.  Burbling synths mesh seamlessly with Boris’ trademark guitar tone on ‘Jackson Head’, a remixed track from New Album. The New Album version omits the guitars for an all-synth attack, perversely making the overall sound more abrasive than the version found on Heavy Rocks. The overall effect of the Heavy Rocks mix of ‘Jackson Head’ invokes nothing so much as an alternate-universe soundtrack for a 1980′s cop movie. Likewise, on ‘Window Shopping’, a familiar Boris garage-rock freakout is overpowered by Wata’s “doo doo doo” vocals, turning what could have been the most conventional moments on the album entirely on its head. It is immediately followed by ‘Tu La La’, which is Boris (a band usually very comfortable in the studio) at their most polished-sounding yet. It is a testament to the band’s collective skill in the studio that Boris have managed to thread together what are in fact very disparate sonics from song to song, in a way that is never jarring.

Heavy Rocks is an organic culmination of everything the band has produced up to this point. The band’s love of Melvins and shoegaze and shiny electro-pop are no longer kept separate, they are amalgamated into a cohesive and triumphant whole. If earlier Boris releases could be seen as a band playing within certain select groups of influence, perhaps the totality of their 2011 work will show them as a group shedding any pretence to boundaries whatsoever.

Boris- Heavy Rocks
(2011) Sargent House

Boris Tumblr

Stream Heavy Rocks in full at NPR