Nottingham’s Rattle release their third album Encircle on Upset the Rhythm.
The duo’s Katharine Eira Brown and Theresa Wrigley use their unique double drum set up and vocal cycles to experiment with rhythm, metre and tension. These four extended tracks were honed over the last few years by being played live.
‘Ritual’ opens the album in ominous style, almost wordless, it is built around a simple snare drum pattern played by Katharine, overlapped with a second snare pattern performed by Theresa creating an elliptical feel, Katharine describes it as:
“A sort of a waltz, and a very earthy song – lots of low lying mist on the ground swirling around and the drums coming together to summon something!”
It is inspired by Boleskine House in Scotland, once inhabited by Aleister Crowley, which Katharine discovered when on tour with her other band Kogumaza.
“The house was in ruins following a, or several, fires, and was inhabited” she explains. “It was misty April shows day and the view from the terrace was Loch Ness with rising mist, which smoked up into the cemetery in front of the house. It was incredibly eerie and easy to imagine Crowley conducting his rituals.”
Recent single, ‘Your Move,’ is a step-up gear change with RATTLE wanting it to feel like the tape had suddenly started to spin faster, urgent movement, venturing action. Clocking in at over 15 minutes, ‘Your Move’, is mesmeric and boundless, hypnotic in its minimalism of doubled drums and vocal cycles.
“The images in my head for the first half of ‘Your Move’ were water – reflecting in pools, and flowing” explains Katharine. “Then the second half is like it is stuck in an endless slow-moving cycle. The bit in-between is the flitting in-between, we wanted it to feel like a CD getting stuck. The words Your Move might be about moving in an embodied way or freedom / movement / expression, but they are also an emboldening call to action – it’s your turn – what are YOU going to do, what’s your next move?”
‘All Burning’, a live favourite of cyclical tumbling and evolving wordplay. The song builds up gradually, layer by layer, with Theresa’s cumulative snare work and Katharine’s urgent calls for action:
“Hold your doctor, hold your daughter, hold your horses”.
Inspired by a vision of the Great Fire of London, the song evokes the panic and emergency of a capital city disaster.
Encircle ends with the 12-minute ‘Argot’. A song about uncertainty, with Katharine singing wordlessly across much of the track.
“I prefer to sing wordlessly often because it feels a bit more expressive and universal,” asserts Katharine.
It’s an epic track that offers a satisfying release. This occurs with the eventual introduction of the bass drum and a snappy hi-hat section.
Encircle’s songs are alive with elemental power. It’s a challenging but rewardingly hypnotic listen.
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