INDEMNITY 2

JARBOE
The CD release Indemnity 2 is the second in a trilogy featuring intimate re-
interpretations of songs by Swans and World Of Skin, and new ones written
exclusively for the project. Besides three new compositions, Indemnity 2
revisits material from Holy Money (1986), The Burning World (1989), Ten Songs
for Another World (1990), The Great Annihilator (1994) and the Gira solo
album Drainland (1995).

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Instruments are sparingly employed on these resculpted masterpieces as Jarboe’s voice
reveals all facets of its spectral, tender and terrifying splendour. Indescribable soundscapes
arise from the music’s polyphonic textures – vocal overtones and harmonic fusions of voice
and instrument. The overall sound is refined and richly allusive; except for the closing track
nothing here is inaccessibly experimental or unbearably intense.

A burst of Jarboe’s contralto opens The Child’s Right, a wrenching lament which first
appeared on Ten Songs For Another World where MG performed lead vocal. Acoustic guitar
is the main accompaniment, lightly embellished by keyboards and wind instruments.
Tension is maintained throughout by sustained modifications in pitch and vocal register.

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Distorted words – glossolalia or reverse speech – open this “Mr Sandman” and resurface
throughout. A type of lullaby, Unreal has a dreamlike quality accentuated by the virtuoso
vocal performance and spectacular choral arrangement. The original, from the album
Drainland, hints at the glossolalic expression at the start and in the backing vocals; tinkling
piano and straightforward balladry by MG characterize the track. This Indemnity
interpretation lifts the song into wider spatial dimensions.

Words fail when it comes to the majestic Saved. If there is chamber music in heaven, this is
the sound. This lofty rendition departs from the lovely and moving original on The Burning
World mainly in its stately tempo and exquisite arrangement. Never have Jarboe’s voices
sounded more enthralling than here, in particular where she performs a duet with herself.

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From the sublime to the earthy: bass tones dominate the sedate first part of Universal
Emptiness with its slow, solemn drumbeat. Then the tempo lifts and the sound expands as
more sounds join to fill the emptiness with their emanations. Swans’ version on The Great
Annihilator, although atmospheric, sounds monotonous by comparison.

Industrial undertones make Holy Money (Dirty Version) the grittier one. Simple but stylish
chorales interspersed by authoritative spoken commands and spirited injunctions by the vox
personae guarantee a cinematic listening experience. One gets fleeting impressions of the
carrot-and-stick method of teaching, of a mix of the motivational and the authoritarian. “Ve
haff vays und means” vs “You know you can do it!”

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On I Am the Sun, the aforementioned personae – including a male voice – engage in
demented gasps and whispers whilst the statements of the hoarse, grating lead vocal move
from the merely deranged to the maniacally murderous. That’s enough to set it apart from
the original on TGA with its stop-start structure, heavy guitars and drums which develops
into a rock chant.

This flowing version employs drum volleys at strategically spaced intervals instead. As the
tempo accelerates, the hypnotic power of the rhythmic cadences in the wall of sound
intensifies. This is the most ‘rock’ song thus far and the most disturbing. The buzzing and
crackling might be feedback or the sounds of the entities of which there are legions here…
liliths and lamiae and god knoweth what else.

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Celebrity Lifestyle offers another example of total transformation achieved by tonal and
tempo variation buoyed by lilting rhythms. Stunning solo vocals and celestial choirs blend
seamlessly with one another and with the pitched drones and restrained rock guitars. The
use of ascending scales is the final ingredient which seals its astonishing melodious power,
making it nearly unrecognizable as Swans’ 1994 midtempo drum and guitar track on TGR.

Indeterminate sounds waft in over desolate moorlands to mingle with reverberating synths
and layered choirs on Realm for an unearthly symphonic drone. What are those hooting
things roosting in the distance? Haunting to say the least, on a par with those intoxicating
accomplishments Under Will on Anhedoniac, Warm on Annihilator or the unnerving one
that follows here.

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The mournful textures of the elegy Durto James are woven by sculpted vocals and
overtones. As a proper polychoral composition there are contrapuntal voices/choirs whose
ebb and flow shape the sound in contours of singular complexity. Between their crests and
troughs there’s a dialogue of sighs, by and large inaudible as it transpires in a space beyond
words and tears. One gets the impression of travelling through cavernous vaults and
chambers in parallel universes where time, space and light have been transposed. Most
remarkable is the fusion of voice and instrument, a blend of harmonics and electronics
which results in something stranger, more exquisite than the sum of its parts.

The second version of Holy Money has a lighter drumbeat, striking keyboard patterns and
well spaced guitar salvos. Spoken lines rise like silhouettes against the lattice of dreamy
vocals, tinkling bells / cash register and spooky samples. This is elegant ‘ballet music’ which
begs to be choreographed. Just imagine the ballerinas gracefully moving their derrieres, as
instructed, like dying swans to the flowing music.

The soul journey version of The Child’s Right also sets disquieting polyphonic vocals against
expansive flute-like pitched drones and several of Jarboe’s legions of voices put in
appearances, albeit in a restrained manner. As in Durto James, uncanny overtones colour
the whole.

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God, Goddess concludes the album with a modulated primal scream as the a capella voice
fuses with microphone feedback. A musical expression of Munch’s The Scream where the
perturbing factor isn’t the solitary figure in extremis but the merger of feedback and voice, a
process by which the human quality of the voice seems to be in danger of dilution or
transformation into something unfamiliar and frightening.

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REVIEWS

Posté par Mäx Lachaud dans Chroniques | Commentaires fermés

Toujours aussi active, l’ex-prêtresse des Swans continue sa série de reprises intimistes
d’anciens titres de ce groupe mythique ou de World of Skin, le projet qu’elle avait formé
avec Michael Gira. Étonnamment, si l’album Mahakali (2008) renouait avec les racines noise
et lorgnait même du côté du black metal, Jarboe est depuis revenue à des compositions plus
épurées et expérimentales, tout en restant très sombres et angoissantes (le terrifiant Dark
Consort et les nombreux CD-R qui ont suivi). Inutile de préciser que cette collection,
Indemnity, se révèle un indispensable pour tous les fans de la belle. Les morceaux originaux y
sont complètement réorchestrés, mettant en avant toute la richesse vocale de la diva :
complaintes déchirantes sur dark folk mélancolique (« The Child’s Right »), berceuses
éthérées et harmonies de toute beauté (« Unreal »), touches de gospel et d’Americana
(« Saved »), crescendos atmosphériques (« Universal Emptiness »), cérémonies vaudou
délirantes rythmées par ce vibrato toujours aussi inquiétant (« Holy Money »), rites de
possession démoniaque (« I am the Sun »), drones vocaux (« Realm ») à la limite de chants
harmoniques mêlés d’électronique (« Durto James ») et de prières insanes (« God
Goddess »). Avec ces séries de disques en éditions limitées et autoproduits, Jarboe nous offre
sûrement certaines des pièces les plus sensibles de sa longue carrière, comme une musicienne
ayant atteint la maîtrise totale de son pouvoir émotionnel et de son langage en le réduisant à
son expression la plus brute. Une artiste au sommet de son art.

http://www.obskuremag.net/chroniques/jarboe-indemnity-2/

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29xthefun's Album Reviews

Jarboe has for years went out on her own making albums and selling via her own website.
This album is a strange one as it is a kind of "best of" album from two albums. But it is also a
covers album but of her own work.

I say strange it is not really as many bands and artists re record music all the time. This is
more of a performance than a document of a time. Each song has been reworked and you can
really feel how personal they may well be.

Her voice is very bleak and haunting here but as always utterly inviting to the ear. Some
highlights are reworking of songs from Swans and the Great Annihilator album from 1995.
"Celebrity Lifestyle" sounds so different here, the original recording was hardly the most
upbeat song but there is a far darker tone hear.

Very few instruments are used as Jarboe uses her voice to maximum effect. Same as "I Am
The Sun" is vastly changed but as I say it is more of a performance almost much like a
soundtrack interlude for a film. Swans and World of Skin did use a studio to help make the
sound of the album here Jarboe is back to basics and with lot little she has makes it work so
well.

"Miracle of Love" from White Light From the Mouth of Infinity was a great track and she
has really changed it so much so I can barley recognize the track. As with much of this LP I
had to check the track listing to make sure I was right in what I was hearing.

Much of the music is a kind of alt folk style, all very much home recorded in a way as the
music was put out on CDR via her website. But the album does sound good and for fans of
Swans or even noise rock style music will love this. It is easy to throw this away as a covers
album but the new Jarboe atmospheric vocal pieces are totally unique to this album and worth
the price alone.

Available on LP only via Norman Records

http://29xthealbum.blogspot.com/2013/11/jarboe-indemnity-burning-world-records.html

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SELECT DISCOGRAPHY

Anhedoniac by Jarboe
www.scribd.com/doc/168733654/Anhedoniac-by-Jarboe-reviewed-by-Pieter-Uys

Number One of Three by The Body Lovers

The Burning World by Swans

Cop / Young God / Greed / Holy Money by Swans

Forever Burned by Swans

Love of Life (album & single) by Swans

Love Will Tear Us Apart by Swans

A Mystery of Faith by Jarboe

Omniscience by Swans
www.scribd.com/doc/176994968/Omniscience-by-Swans-Reviewed-by-Pieter-Uys

Die Tür ist Zu by Swans

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FURTHER READING
A Quietus Interview

Supersonic 2012: A Radical Spirit - Jarboe Interviewed

Interview with the Living Jarboe

www.allmusic.com/artist/jarboe-mn0000808391

http://burningworldrecords.bandcamp.com/album/indemnity

www.discogs.com/artist/65694-Jarboe

www.thelivingjarboe.com/

www.swans.pair.com/

ENCHANTING VIDEO
Birmingham Supersonic Festival 2012

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufB4h7xeXbI

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Document compiled by Pieter Uys.

Review of Indemnity 2 by Pieter Uys © 2014

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