Boduf Songs – Abyss Versions – Album Review
by Killian Laher

The seventh album from American artist Mat Sweet, recording as the oddly named Boduf Songs. It arrives nearly five years after the last one.  An album entitled Abyss Versions and references to a precipice and a void signals a move in a bleaker direction.  Gimme Vortex gives a good impression of the rest of the album, Sweet’s breathy, whispery vocals over subtle, creeping melodies picked out painstakingly on electric guitars.  Unseen Forces and How To Use Them adds hushed percussion, and You Are Always On The Edge of a Precipice focuses more on keyboards, but the overall effect remains consistent.  Behold… opens with a bass playing a low foreboding note, some strange creaking noises and very little else, and this continues for three and a half minutes.  Songs don’t seem to be ‘played’, the likes of Black Nails and Sword Weather ooze out of their grimy hole, pouring pleasant darkness slowly into your ears.

Possibly the finest track is the closing track Highlights of Void, with a gorgeous piano part, the chord changes are a little reminiscent of Dakota Suite.  Both the artist name and the music itself will be a little strange and dark for a lot of people, but I suspect that will only serve to make his fans more committed.

Track List –

1. Gimme Vortex
2. Unseen Forces and How To Use Them
3. You Are Always On The Edge of a Precipice
4. Behold, I Have Graven Thee Upon The Palms of My Hands; Thy Walls Are Continually Before Me
5. Black Nails
6. Sword Weather
7. In The Glittering Vault, In The Flowery Hiatus
8. Highlights of Void

Gimme Vortex