Album Details

• Artist: Blue Water White Death
• Album: Blue Water White Death
• Label: Graveface
• Year of Release: 2010
• ME Rating:
• Reviewed by: patchen on 2010-09-14

 A supergroup of sorts, Blue Water, White Death is the odd collaboration of creepy-rock Shearwater's lead singer Jonathan Meiburg  and Jamie Stewart, he of the lush, downer-pop sensation that is Xiu Xiu. As you might think, this self titled release is lo-fi and minimally gorgeous, stark and at times harrowing, and often f'in brilliant.

"Song for the Greater Jihad" is worth the price alone. An atonal, uncomfortable masterpiece of a  pop tune with dual, soaring vocals that evoke both death and faith. Even without a clue from the title, this might strike one as gospel at the edge of despair. "Grunt Tube" features disorienting, fragmented vocals, jittery piano and ambient textures alternately soaring and assaultive. "Nerd Future" is the theme song to the squawk to "Eraserhead" that never was: industrial, raw, achingly sad, and oddly endearing.

Other mini-epics, like the almost-unbearable "Death for Christmas" and "Rendering The Juggalos," share space with shorter tunes like "The End of Sex" and "This is the Scrunchyface of My Dreams," which might seem like throwaways when compared to the deep emotional impact of the other songs. But even those shorter pieces deserve repeated listening, when the layers of sound and depth of feeling emerge.

Written by Stewart and Heilburg in the studio in one week and produced by John Congleton (Modest Mouse), "Blue Water, white Death," band and recording, is stunning, breathtaking, and to be digested when able to plumb the depths. Among all the sounds and range of mood here, that atonal, persistent piano will never leave your head.

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