The Black Heart Procession
After Three Mile Pilot began an open-ended hiatus in 1997, singer/guitarist Pall Jenkins and multi-instrumentalist Tobias Nathaniel embarked on a darker, more subdued journey as The Black Heart Procession. In the many years and albums since, the band's line-up has expanded and contracted, but at its heart and soul remains Jenkins and Nathaniel, creating timeless, heart-wrenching classics that are adventurous, eclectic, and consistently brilliant.
Befitting of The Black Heart Procession, the duyo's new release Blood Bunny / Black Rabbit takes the experimentation hinted at on Six and expands upon it in bizarre and brilliant ways. Centered around three stunning new songs, the collection is arranged and mixed as one continuous composition, sounding every bit like an LSD-influenced DJ set in the kind of terrifying but strangely alluring vampire sex den commonly seen in True Blood. It's the ideal atmosphere for The Black Heart Procession, where they feel most comfortable and sound most in control. The set is rounded out by a series of remixes, most notably the eccentric freak-out "Freeze" by legendary dub pioneer Lee "Scratch" Perry and ambient electronic luminary Eluvium's 10-minute orchestral reconstruction of the solitary piano ballad "Drugs". Jenkins remixes a couple of tunes himself under the guise of Mr. Tube, and San Diego electronic producers Jamuel Saxon close the album with an unlikely downtempo dance reworking of "Drugs" that transforms the song's morose lyrics into a meditative, almost hopeful trance. If Blood Bunny / Black Rabbit was supposed to be a stop-gap between albums, no one seems to have told the band as much. It is easily one of The Black Heart Procession's more compelling and intriguing releases of their extensive and impressive catalog.
