Nurse With Wound - She And Me Fall Together In Free Death 3LP/3LP
RELEASES ON THE 12/4/24
"She and Me Fall Together in Free Death" is probably the most approachable, largely "musical" album that NWW has released since "Rock N' Roll Station". It's also one of his strangest concepts, a marriage of trance inducing Krautrock grooves with a traditional jazz standard and some jarringly atonal musique concrete.
Side A is the 20-minute title track: a slow-motion jam reminiscent of of one of Can's sidelong tracks on "Tago Mago" or the more avant-garde grooves of Tony Conrad and Faust's "Outside the Dream Syndicate". The propulsive Jaki Liebezeit drumbeat is the foundation for a long jam session with what sounds like a dijderidoo and layers of guitar feedback. It's a massive, heavy sound, the kind that Julian Cope would devote a whole chapter to in his "Kratrocksampler".
Side B is one long piece with three distinct movements. Beginning with those familiar, World Serpent-trademark windchimes, the listener is quickly ushered into Stapleton's singing debut (!) in a rendition of the oft-covered traditional jazz ballad Black is the Color of My True Love's Hair. This was a favorite of the recently deceased Nina Simone, and also of the avant-jazz screamer Patty Waters. Nurse With Wound's version is backed by cello drones, repetitive guitar strums and tambourine, sounding very much like The Velvet Underground's Venus in Furs. It's such a treat to hear Steven Stapleton's multitracked vocals cover this classic song, and this eerie version rates as one of my favorites. This song and the title track prove to the naysayers that Nurse With Wound is equally adept at rock n' roll songcraft as he is at demented sound collages.
The creepy jazz cover seques into Chicken Concret (For Missy E), a truly warped tape-edit job that juxtaposes chicken squawks and synthesized birdcalls with random bleeps, speaker hiccups and gongs.
About this product: this reissue is available on two 3LP variants.
One is pressed on 3x silver vinyl.
The other is pressed on 3x gold vinyl.