Over the course of its first five albums, Montreal trio Big|Brave had made a name for itself in operating minimally but sounding exceedingly maximalist. Walls of caustic feedback and a vocal delivery that is equally aggressive but yet achingly beautiful were delivered spectacularly. A collaborative release with The Body in 2021 saw a bit of a pivot which was further explored on 2023’s Nature Motre and it has been fully enveloped with A Chaos Of Flowers. Big|Brave has produced a stunning album which retains heaviness but from a very different sonic approach.
There is a PR cliché around bands producing something melodic yet heavier but Big|Brave has actually achieved that here. The raging rivers of electric feedback have been calmed yet the danger now lies in the swelling depths of the black seas within the 8 tracks. Because of that cliché it may be worrying to fans of the band that they have totally changed direction but that is not the case at all. The band hasn’t dipped into folk and there are more hints of the doom of Fvnerals and wallowing of AA Williams than the styles of Emma Ruth Rundle or Chelsea Wolfe approach.
The vocal performance here might be a career best so far as restraint gives way to a beautifully dark delivery and opener ‘I Felt A Funeral’ really does give a great taste of what this album is all about without giving it all away. The guitar drones and builds rather than going straight for the jugular, when it does rise above the vocals the feedback doesn’t linger and the notes remain clearer but still weighty. I have found the album one that can be extremely relaxing and also one in which I can crank the volume right up and enjoy the heaviness. A track like ‘Canon : In Canon’ provides a wonderful droning soundscape while ‘Quotidian : Solemnity’ threatens to set the vocals and distortion loose yet the stay refined whilst still excelling in volume and that about sums up what passes on the album.
It is heavy without having to go overtly hard or heavy, it is recorded beautifully so the darkness is amped to the front and the atmosphere is generated from the softer approach rather than a frontal assault. The minimalism is textured from the different musical aspects performing at different volumes and the softly played drums offer a great base for the band to operate from. After a decade Big|Brave sounds bigger and braver than ever, they have completed heavy and loud and now they have accomplished heavy without the volume, whatever they choose to do next the evidence suggests they will master it too.
