When San Diego's legendary Three Mile Pilot went on a sudden hiatus in early 1998, it's members split into two new bands. One became a beloved complex pop band (Pinback), the other (The Black Heart Procession) has become one of music's most interesting bands. Over ten years and five albums, The Black Heart Procession has defined a truly unique persona that's easily distinguishable amongst the sea of indie rockdom. Their new album, the appropriately titled, Six was written alongside a new Three Mile Pilot album but never wondered into that territory. Instead, feeling exiled and lonely, Six is among the darkest and grimmest of the Black Heart Procession bunch.
Six is the sound of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds getting in a bar fight with Tindersticks. It's a shady dodgy record that's theatrical, dramatic, and filled with more tension then a Middle East Peace Talk. The record is so taught and wound up you really get the feeling that at any moment it could explode killing everything around it. It's darkness and isolation is almost overpowering, it's as if the Dark Side of The Force pulls you toward this record and demands your soul as payment for listening to it. It's merciless grip on the dramatic is awesome listening and truly will leave you stunned.
Recorded over a three year period of time, Six sounds as if every move has been calculated for maximum impact. It's an emotionally draining rollercoaster that sounds as though it's in dire need of some prozac. That's not necessarily a bad thing because as bad as you think you've got it, the sounds of Six will make your miserable life sound footloose and fancy free. From the minimal starkness of the somewhat appropriate, "Drugs," to the creepy near-pop of, "Rats," the Black Heart Procession have come up with a deeply dramatic and thrilling album that's like listening to a white knuckle ride of depression. This is music for the broken hearted, the down trodden, and the sad and it's awesome. Pyschology has never sounded better!
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