ALBUM REVIEW: Orchards Of A Futile Heaven – The Body & Dis Fig
In an endeavour to make heavy music without the focus being on guitars or even on pure electronics, THE BODY & DIS FIG collaborate to deliver Orchards Of A Futile Heaven. Lee Bulford and Chip King make up THE BODY, while Felicia Chen is DIS FIG, and together this combination of inquisitive, experimental minds plays with expectation and genre convention to create something that resembles nothing else.
Undoubtedly there’s a hardness to the music, and initially you might believe your speakers are broken as Eternal Hours’ thick static dissipates into blood-chilling screams. It’s quite an opener, with THE BODY & DIS FIG’s brutal approach to soundscapes feeling feral and malicious. As an album, with its thick drones, the density of Orchards Of A Futile Heaven means that the overall experiences is very oppressive. However, while the wild harshness might appear on first listen to be a sort of hellscape, there’s an odd catharsis to this untrodden ground, losing yourself to the pulse and allowing the process to happen around you.
The deep, warm fuzz of the bass against the spacey reverberating Holy Lance is the right balance of off-kilter and subversive power. With commanding vocals and a dark droning synth that oscillates menacingly, it’s a forceful track that impresses on the imagination, an ambience that definitely draws out a reaction from you. The incessant screaming in the title track Orchards Of A Futile Heaven is a bit hard to handle if you’re feeling delicate or more emotionally vulnerable, which invariably is the point, while Coils Of Kaa continues the sense of being captivated by shamanistic chants and rhythms. It’s animalistic, raw and violent. The consistent, stark drone feels like iron fillings, grit and cold, while the vocals really tap into something primal.
“I don’t want to behave,” repeats Chen. This is definitely a record that, while working within its own rules, doesn’t behave like any conventional folk, synth or metal record. In the blending of them all, THE BODY & DIS FIG strip away all the softer elements of the genres and leave a raw and bleeding soul. The mutilation into whatever Orchards Of A Futile Heaven is from the bones of these genres is beautiful, but in a terrifying and dangerous way. It’s a fascinating beast, but one you might not be able to stay with long for your own sanity. Deeply affecting, it’s a bold and artistic approach to music making that is both awe-inspiring and haunting in equal measure.
Rating: 7/10
Orchards Of A Futile Heaven is set for release on February 23rd via Thrill Jockey.