ARTIST: Walter Sickert & The Army of Broken Toys
TITLE: Walter Sickert & The Army of Broken Toys
LABEL: Self Released
GENRE: Folk
BITRATE: 172kbps avg
PLAYTIME: 0h 44m total
RELEASE DATE: 2006-00-00
RIP DATE: 2007-03-13
Track List
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1. The Negative Heart Society 1:45
2. Sacrilege 4:36
3. Lows 2:18
4. La Divorce 3:42
5. Sister Inhalation 1:53
6. Bone Slag 2:31
7. The Long Wait 4:02
8. No More Fires 4:38
9. Coldwireforest 5:53
10. Shiny & New 3:44
11. Legs Like Snakes 1:42
12. Slit Wrist Family 5:25
13. Hell Holds 2:41
Release Notes:
Walter Sickert & The Army of BRoken Toys is musical alchemy, fingering the
rabbit hole of performance art. With their toys and voices in and out they
create a Death- Folk, Texture-Core, Organic Industrial experience.
Turn and face the strange. Sickert has a real gift as a multi-instrumentalist
and singer and he journeys into dark and eclectic material on his debut disc.
Joined on some tracks by Edrie, whose vocals soar, he turns out a tasty sonic
confection. Here's the breakdown: The Negative Heart Society - Primal,
hard-driving song with Middle Eastern flourishes. Almost sounds like it could
have come from PIL's Flowers of Romance sessions. Sacrilege - This one yields
anguished, tortured vocals and lyrics over ethereally pretty music. What could
have been a jarring mix gels very well and makes for a really good song. Lows -
Dark, folkish song. It's not quite as gripping as the last two, but it's still
pretty decent. La Divorce - Lilting, bouncy music provides the underpinning for
flat-out vocal and lyrical fury. Sickery pulls it off remarkably well. Bone Slag
- Strange little number with piano that sounds like it might've been lifted from
a late 19th-century music house accompanied by very wigged out lyrics. This one
managed to get under my skin. Sister Inhalation - A gorgeous acoustic guitar
propels this track, which boasts some of the most tortured and plaintive singing
heard up to this point. If Robyn Hitchcock ever has a psychotic break, it might
sound a little like this. The Long Wait - Haunting, almost soothing track. Edrie
joins in on this one and her vocals shine even when put through distortion. No
More Fires - A primal, droning track. It didn't click with me as well as most of
the other songs did, but not bad. coldwireforest - Ominous and macabre, this one
brought me to the conclusion that I wouldn't want to spend the night in
coldwireforest. Good song, though. Shiny & New - A foray into dark rockabilly.
I'll betcha that you've never heard anything quite like it. Legs Like Snakes -
Carried along by a foreboding piano melody, this tune manages to be
simultaneously catchy and creepy. Slit Wrist Family - The acoustic guitar and
synth combination are very pretty and the lyrical content is about what you'd
expect from a song entitled "Slit Wrist Family." If this one doesn't win a Dove
award, there's no justice. Hell Holds - Macabre, yet kinda festive sounding,
this song closes out the album quite nicely. Sickert has a very inventive sonic
vocabulary and fans of gothic and darker shades of music will find a lot to like
on this disc. I would have liked to have heard more of Edrie on the disc, but
that's about the only downside I can find to this album. Well worth checking
out. The cd's release date is September 7th and if you're intrigued so far,
check out http://www.myspace.com/armyoftoys. You'll find some sample tracks
there and I'm sure Walter would be more than happy to hook you up with the
album.