It is quite easy to find innovative albums. To come across unique ones is much harder for it. »Drunk in Love« is the latter. Its sonic breeding ground are clubbing genres that have grown in popularity in the last decade: Gqom, Grime, Trap. However, Elvin Brandhi and Lord Spikeheart don’t make music for the dancefloor. The duo improvises, chooses non-linear song structures and arhythmical beats. Their dynamic sound design bears more resemblance to early industrial recordings than to over-produced crowd-pleasers. Similar to SPK’s early, disturbing releases, »Drunk in Love« attempts to disorient and alienate. If that were not enough, Lord Spikeheart is a Grindcore singer. A lot that’s going on here has been sketched by his band Duma. But the latter attempted to overpower its audience. »Drunk in Love« feels psychotic for its own sake. Spikehearts screams adorn it like barbed wire. On »666.6668«, they are chopped to become a rhythmic counterpart to kick-drum blasts and a House bass. Brandhi sings: »Looking for peace, looking for a dime, looking for happiness.« Her search is futile. »Drunk in Love« sketches a hostile universe, in which only one’s own annihilation intoxicates. Not everyone will want to roll in shards with Elvin Brandhi and Lord Spikeheart. I’m honestly not sure if I have developed a fancy for it. Yet, feeling uneasy does not derogate from the masochistic allure of extra-ordinary artistic visions. Approach at your own peril!
Drunken Love
