Author: Peter Podbrežnik
Artist: Hammill, Peter
Label: Fie! Records
Release: 2012
Duration: 48:71
Rating: 4.5/5
Whenever the brilliant English singer, guitarist, composer and poet Peter Hammill decides to put out a new solo album, it’s something of a holiday for all fans of eclectic progressive rock. In recent years his solo output has come out a bit less often than it used to, since the legendary musician is busier than ever with the work he does for the no less legendary Van Der Graaf Generator.
»Consequences« is a kind of logical follow-up to Hammill’s previous album »Thin Air« (2009), to which it’s stylistically related already because he played all the compositions on the album completely on his own, with no ‘outside help’ whatsoever. That means the album contains only a sprinkling of percussion, acoustic guitar and piano, a few bashful bass lines and a few sudden outbursts of distortion on electric guitar. The central cornerstone that has accompanied Hammill throughout his whole career is, of course, his utterly unique, chameleon-like and unpredictable voice. Within very short stretches, his range goes from angelic arias to sudden choleric outbursts of pent-up wailing, and it’s still an unsolved enigma, so he’s safe from impostors for all eternity.
Throughout most of the compositions on »Consequences«, Hammill also makes heavy use of a technique that’s specific to him, creating the dramatic effect of a mighty, massive wall of backing vocals. »Consequences« is, much like »Thin Air«, a pretty dark album in terms of ambience, while Peter’s lyrics, excellent as ever, touch on various sensitive topics, ranging from anxiety, loneliness and social egoism/narcissism to political incorrectness. Most of the lyrics deal above all with our inability to listen to each other in today’s crazed world, to take time for the person we’re talking to, and with the incapacity for genuine human contact without a computer as a go-between.
On tracks like the opener »Eat My Words, Bite My Tongue«, the maestro faithfully carries on the tradition of ambient and lyrically deep works that give listeners ‘something to think about’ regarding their place in society and the limits of what’s acceptable in the middle of vampiric neoliberal capitalism. All these anxious messages are so skillfully camouflaged by clever metaphors in the lyrics that nobody can accuse Peter of ‘corrupting obedient citizens’. Distinctively scattered acoustic-guitar lines flow wittily through fierce, eclectic vocal outbursts, topped with excellent mimicry from the backing vocals. »That Wasn’t What I Said« is a veritable vocal drama with mighty multi-part harmonies, a tense rhythm and a rich ambient curtain of piano, while chopped-up electric guitar passages prowl through it, grinning.
On the dark, melancholic »Constantly Overheard«, you can also hear a special guitar effect in the background that sounds like a line of Hammond organ, which instantly sparks an association with Van Der Graaf Generator. The sarcastic »New Pen-pal«, which mocks the endless virtual correspondence and the adding of new ‘friends’, features an enigmatic acoustic guitar melody that, alongside Peter’s vocal acrobatics, is the main building block of its mysterious mood. »Close to Me« is a shattering piano-based ballad that, together with gorgeous, astonishingly eclectic multi-part vocal outbursts and occasional dissonant electric guitar passages, creates a truly chilling ambience. »All the Tiredness«, which tells the story of an aging man worn down by life’s trials, somewhere in the heart of ‘Old Europe’, is even more cloaked in ambient blackness than its predecessor, touching on the sad theme of how old age is being pushed further and further to the margins of society in modern hyper-capitalist life, in favor of ‘eternal’ (read: bought) youth and ‘beauty’, and into the collective oblivion of younger generations.
On »Perfect Pose«, which has a whole range of ambient spices in the background, Peter proves he remains a sonic experimentalist without peer. This excellent composition, too, where the maestro once again triumphs as a vocal chameleon, uncompromisingly stares deep into the heart of the current ‘zeitgeist’; the pain of the so-desired ‘perfection’ radiating from photos of assorted models, who greet us every day from roadside billboards, even though at the latest by the next day we’ve forgotten their faces. »Scissors« is a thematic continuation of the previous track, touching on the repressed aggression and complexes that slowly build up in those aforementioned ‘products of mass beauty’. The peak of that repressed rage comes in the closing instrumental outburst of Hammill’s aggressive electric guitar soloing.
»Bravest Face« is, compared to the other pieces on the album, a touch more optimistic creation, with melodramatic piano interludes, multi-part harmonies and the usual top-notch vocal mannerisms. The ballad »A Run of Luck«, interwoven with a melancholic piano melody, is, somewhat predictably, a closing track wrapped in deep blackness, where Hammill clears away the last illusions about the lasting, happiness-bringing power of material possessions and reminds us how short human life is and how pointless the daily chase for »happiness« is, in the hope that manna will suddenly fall on the lucky winner in the ‘lottery’.
»Consequences« is the first-class treat we were all expecting, made for every fan of prog-rock eclecticism and high-tension ambient intensity of the kind only an old-school music legend can deliver. Even after 45 years of active artistic work, both solo and with VDGG, Peter Hammill doesn’t ease off one bit in his musical vision, which puts him among those splendid, lonely figures of the golden age of prog rock who weren’t scared of the new millennium and didn’t succumb to self-parody or total apathy like quite a few of their musical peers. All hail, now and forever!
Lineup
Peter Hammill – vocals, acoustic and electric guitar, piano, percussion
Production
Peter Hammill
Tracklist
1. Eat my Words, Bite my Tongue (5:30)
2. That Wasn’t What I Said (5:21)
3. Constantly Overheard (4:19)
4. New Pen-pal (4:08)
5. Close to Me (4:10)
6. All the Tiredness (5:56)
7. Perfect Pose (7:05)
8. Scissors (5:23)
9. Bravest Face (4:45)
10. A Run of Luck (3:54)
