Sans Froid – Hello, Boil Brain (Self-released)
Bristol band Sans Froid release their debut album Hello, Boil Brain – a densely packed and anxious-feeling experimental alt rock album capturing the overwhelm of post-pandemic life.
Artist: Sans Froid
Track: Hello, Boil Brain
Label: Self-released
Released: 13 September 2024
Find it: Bandcamp | Spotify
I’ve been fortunate enough to never find myself lost in a real labyrinth so I can only imagine the tight-chested panic and deafening blood rush as each new dead-end is reached and hope dwindles as you meet yourself back where you began. Hello, Boil Brain, the debut album from Sans Froid, gives a pretty close approximation of that feeling across its densely-packed 30 minutes of experimental alt-rock.
Often spiralling into anxiety-laden layers of sound – off-kilter guitars duelling with hammered piano, chanting vocals soaring out into wails or warbles – there are dream-like interludes too. By turns expansive Prog rock that verges on the cinematic and claustrophobic races between vocal and rhythm in which its never clear if there either can win. There’s much darkness in this album thematically and musically, but thankfully some glints of light too – fleeting as those may be its enough to hold on to and save from being buried entirely in the sound here.
Lead single The Still is a microcosm of the album as a whole, with angular beats playing with that repeating piano line, an almost musical-theatre cadence to the vocal before it all gets mangled in grinding guitars and sharp-edges, only to fall away then to build again. It’s really several songs patched together in to one, the discordant parts teasing a catchy pop feel at times. Certainly a song which requires many listens before all the hidden depths have been plumbed. The band say the track, “mirrors the narrative of our debut album Hello, Boil Brain, delving into the profound anxiety stemming from emerging out of a world-altering pandemic and the daunting prospect of reintegrating into a frenetic ‘normal’ society. It reflects the realisation that social interaction, once second nature to many, now feels overwhelming, and the rapid pace of life no longer aligns comfortably. The yearning to linger in a state of slow existence amidst the chaos.”
One of those fleeting lighter moments follows straight on with What’s That Sound. And while it is somewhat of a palette cleanser after the frenzy of The Still, with a rounded and warmer melody it retains a disconcerting undertow. Perhaps by this point in the album we’re just conditioned to expect the unexpected and as such give ourselves willingly when we’re pulled under by the repeating lyrics, the expansive sound.
For a debut this album feels incredibly well-formed: a clear vision meticulously delivered. It’s end sends us back to the start, trapping us within it’s shifting walls, allowing us to find new paths through with each repeat listen. It’s dense yet expansive too. It’s anxious and full of rage and despair and overwhelm. It’s deliberately off-kilter, theatrical but serious. A fascinating if unsettling listen.
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Hello, Boil Brain by Sans Froid is out now.
Find Sans Froid: Bandcamp | Spotify | Facebook | Instagram | YouTube
Upcoming live dates:
- 14 September – Dubrek Studios, Derby
- 28 September – Attenborough Arts Centre, Leicester
- 5 October – Rough Trade Bristol
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Sarah Lay
A long-standing music journalist she's also co-founder of independent record label Reckless Yes, an author of novels, and when not messing around with words and music, a digital strategist.
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