Broken Arrows – So Few Truths
Having a defined musical style can be as much of a curse as a blessing. On the positive side, it makes a label or act stand apart from the crowd, but the potential downside is that each record will sound similar to the last and gradually, the audience drifts onto something else. This is the dilemma facing Giallo Disco, a label that has created and by default captured the horror disco sound. The first ten releases were revelatory, but now they risk repeating themselves.
Thankfully help is at hand, as Broken Arrows enter stage left. The stage name for London duo Bill Ambrose and Spruxx, their debut on the label marks a shift of sorts. There are still reminders everywhere of the Giallo sound, but Broken Arrows succeed in articulating it in a different way. On “Wolf of Balcorne Street”, the mock-serious synths ride the most dance-floor friendly groove the label has released, a pulsing snaking affair, full of acidic, buzzing filters and reminiscent of Clone’s mid-’00s output.
The title track and “Release The Pressure” are closer in sound to Giallo’s shlock-disco, and the discordant riff and vocal sample on the former and the over the top synth line the latter are typical for the label. The backing tracks are less familiar, with Ambrose and Spruxx laying down dense drums, rattling percussion and bass lines that flicker with all the intensity of a malfunctioning strobe.
The most apparent sign that Giallo hasn’t allowed itself to get stuck in a rut comes on Drvg Cvltvre’s remix of “So Few Truths”. He pushes the original track’s relentless EBM bass into the red and loops the vocal throughout. Against this backdrop, the Dutch producer adds layer upon layer of atonal ferocity. It may be alien to the label’s back catalogue, but it perfectly fits the ‘horror’ part of the sub-genre Giallo is synonymous with.
Richard Brophy
Tracklisting:
A1. So Few Truths
A2. Pressure
B1. Wolf Of Balcorne Street
B2. So Few Truths (Drvg Cvltvre remix)