The History Of Gunpowder raise a toast to sublime chaos with their intoxicating new single and live video Your Favourite Drink — premiering exclusively on Tinnitist.
The latest preview of the experimental Vancouver ensemble’s imminent video album Swallows, Your Favourite Drink serves up a late-night last-call lament of epic proportion and desperate intensity. Set inside a swirling, swaying and slowly swelling eight-minute supernova of dusty desert twang and orchestral roots majesty — crafted with a massive church organ, a chorus of backup vocals, a haunting violin and more — singer-guitarist Alex James Morison empties the bottle, bares his soul (and gazes deep into yours) with a wailing vocal that suggests Tom Waits and Godspeed You! Black Emperor rewriting Nights In White Satin after a bottle of tequila:
“Whisper in my ear
Your favourite drink
I’ll flag down the barkeep
but the cab will come on instinct…
And for now you’ll whisper your poison
Later you’ll remember why you came
For now you’ll whisper your poison
Later you’ll whisper my name
You are an explosion
For no one, for no one
You are an explosion
For no one, for no one
You are an explosion
Just for some fun.”
The band’s potent bitter cocktail of dynamic ferocity and dark beauty is superbly and stylishly captured with the artful accompanying video, directed and edited by Adam Amir and recorded by Avigdor Schulman and Josie Aileen Patterson at the Weird Church in Cumberland. It’s just one of a series of utterly unique live-off-the-floor performances captured in the engrossing Swallows. Balancing The History Of Gunpowder’s beloved sense of shambolic character with the natural energy of their live shows, this new documentary highlights performances that are bound to resonate.
Recording during an intimate seven-day residency at the B.C. church, the band pull out all the stops to bring forth a rare showcase — shifting their style towards an acoustic sensibility, trading distortion for velvet texture and chaotic growls for deep-felt howls. The new works capitalize on the acoustic properties of the church, using its famed pipe organ from the 19th century coupled with choral vocal additions to the core musicians. The result? An intimate yet behemoth work of art with deep forays into community, music and art.
The film not only presents the group’s newest material, but also augments these powerful performances with video vignettes; short films acting as interludes with original soundtrack from the band. This uncommon format acts as an ode to the creative process and the community in which these songs were written and performed, with the video materials being captured in documentarian style. The History Of Gunpowder have created a truly mesmerizing, singular work of art that entices the onlooker, encapsulating the experience of being there, being part of the community, and indulging in the glorious feeling of creating sound in a graceful, cavernous space.
An independent and experimental quintet, The History Of Gunpowder formed in Montreal in 2014. Their music is couched in traditional blues and played with traditional but highly affected instruments. The band’s extensive use of loops and drones is contrasted by heavy, swinging passages that carry long and winding melodies. Drawing inspiration from blues, soul, jazz, funk and punk, this group emerge as a delicate balance between order and chaos.
Watch Your Favourite Drink up top, check out more videos from Swallows above, hear more from The History Of Gunpowder below, and drink deep on their website, Facebook and Instagram.
