Giles Corey - Giles Corey

Giles Corey - Blackest Bile

Runs for: 7:01

Slow, folkey, calm but also unnerving. Above all, Good.

I guess the only way to describe this album is ‘Dark Folk’. It’s pretty much the most artistic release I’ve ever heard, in that the music itself is different and it doesn’t really feel like it wants to prove itself musically but rather push forward a lot of thematic stuff. Dark thematic stuff.

Holy shit this is some bleak stuff. This must be the most unsettling album that I’ve ever got my hands on. Firstly, the artist, who's real name is Dan Barrett, goes by the moniker of Giles Corey, a man killed in the salem witch trials back in the 1600s – crushed to death by stones after he refused to plead guilty or not guilty to the accusation that he was a warlock. This accusation arose because a girl was haunted by a spectre of Corey in her sleep, demanding her to write her name in the devil’s book. Fucked up stuff. For lack of a better comparison, I’d say this is reminds me a lot of Brand New’s direction for some of the tracks on ‘the devil and god are raging inside of me’ only focusing on the darkest stuff on that album and evolving it tenfold.

The album’s musical delivery opts for a folk like approach, the artist using a guitar and most of the other instruments used fitting both the folk and experimental genre well. There’s a lot of smashed chords, but also incorporation of thundering drums that kick some songs into complete motion – blackest bile being the first example of this. There’s also incorporation of piano, spectral bride being a bittersweet song, possibly the most upbeat track musically yet lyrically it portrays a sort of torturous relationship – lyrics saying ‘my love’s out to get me/you know it’s going to succeed/and I hope I survive this fucking week/alone’. Some of the songs are layered with horns or odd synth effects to create a sort of epic sound to the tracks as if they were played in a giant empty theatre or something, along with use of a delay effect on a lot of the vocals, this sometimes creating a choir like effect. For some odd reason the folk work here isn’t unlike what Tom Waits typically tries to do, in that in his music he’s prone to illustrate characters and tell their story In the music.

My one criticism of the album when I first listened to it was that he uses the vocal delay a lot and It makes it hard to understand what’s going on without the lyric sheet. However, this actually turns out to be a fucking genius idea. You take the instrumentals for what they are... It’s ominous. Dark. Unsettling. The soundtrack to nightmares. Then you look up the lyrics and it gets far more horrifying when you can confirm that most of what he’s singing about involves self loathing in its many forms, death, nihilistic attitudes, thematic haunting - the works. It’s absolutely fantastic. Best example of this is No One is Ever Going to Want Me. It’s super atmospheric, and is powerfully evocative in the way it’ll leave you in a quiet melodic bit, and then takes you off guard by thundering into full blown smashing drums, belted out and catchy chords, horns sweeping in the background with the lyrics “I want to feel the way I feel when I’m asleep” being yelled out over the top of it all.

That all said, this isn’t ‘good mood’ music. At all. This is not an album you should play at parties, to friends or to make love to. If I ever end up in a shit mood, I’m going to avoid this album like the plague. I might even go far as to say this is my ‘Requiem for a Dream’ of albums. I also don’t recommend more than one full listen per day (nor could I do it). It’s just TOO dark.

Reccomended for: People who liked the darker side ‘The Devil and God are Raging Inside of Me’, Folk enthusiasts who don’t mind it getting experimental, those who want to dabble in avant garde music (I guess). Also super emos/people who frequent graveyards.

Giles Corey - No One is Ever Going to Want Me

Runs for: 8:15

Personal favourite track off the album. Just... wow. Holy crap.

Giles Corey - Spectral Bride

Runs for 7:10

Not sure where this sits in terms of favourite songs on the album, 

but it's definitely a pace changer and lyrically cuts to the bone with it's cynicism.