The Swiss band Killbody Tuning´s awkwardly named album (good luck to any radio host trying to announce this one!) is actually a soundtrack. Its songs were originally composed for the Swiss film-maker Julien Humbert-Droz´s short film Dernière Chasse and eventually made into what is now their second album.
It´s not an easy feat to describe Killbody Tuning´s music. It´s alternative for sure, progressive and experimental. At times it´s clearly drawing from the metal scene, at times clearly more from the worlds of atmospheric ambient. Listening to the album, I kept thinking of bands like Porcupine Tree and perhaps Fates Warning (and, to my surprise, also the TV series Twin Peaks!), but the comparison doesn´t work very far, as it´s not as much the sound as the feeling I get from the music that makes the connection in my head. Might not do it for you. All in all, I think I´m going to settle for not labeling Killbody Tuning, you´ll have to listen for yourself.
The album opens with “Ara ubiorum”, a track that creates an unhurried atmosphere and builds up its power slowly, but steadily. The second track rolls on smoothly from where the first one left – and that´s the general feeling I get of the album. It flows. Occasionally with loads of attitude and distortion, but still there´s a feeling of flow to it. Perhaps it´s the bass lines, perhaps the haunting bits of melodies behind the guitar sounds.
Only two of the seven tracks on the album have vocals in them and I prefer these instrumental ones. On the third track, Marker of Change, the vocals are by Valérie Leimgruber. I can´t say I dislike it, but it´s not exactly to my tastes. Her soft voice fits the style of the band, but there´s just something about the whispering phrasing that just doesn´t do it for me. And I have to admit I´m a bit annoyed at the “sucking sounds” that have been caught on the track a bit too well. On the second vocal track, Muswell Hill, the singing is somehow clearer and stronger. Céline Bart seems to have gotten the song where she can present quite a wide range of her talent. Of the two, this is by far my favourite vocal performance on this album.
All in all, it´s an album that would work nicely on a calm Sunday morning – or on a weekend evening when it´s dark and rainy outside and you have nothing but a bottle of wine to accompany you. Not the most cheerful of albums, but definitely atmospheric enough to be interesting.
Johanna Ahonen, transl. Sandy Mahrer
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