Both Bo Ningen and Savages hold substantial weight in their own respective rights. The former’s heavily dosed, Japanese-via-London experimental psychedelia has resulted in three increasingly good studio albums, while Savages’ debut Silence Yourself scored positive reviews for its brash, post punk-worshipping tendencies. Destiny had it that their paths would be aligned.
During an intense three weeks when Savages were finishing up their longplayer in London’s Fish Factory in December 2012, they set out to witness Bo Ningen play at Cafe Oto. After being introduced to each other, Savages frontwoman Jehnny Beth would eventually go on to graze atop “Nichijyou” on Bo Ningen’s third album III.
Now the two have teamed up for Words To The Blind, an entire collaborative LP inspired by the Dadaist concept of experimenting with forms of sound poetry and simultaneous poetry. A movement created through the horror of World War One, it attempts to understand how society has reached such an illogical decision.
Since early rehearsals back in the early parts of 2013, the two bands have been working on a loose composition based around five chapters with reticulating jumps between Japanese, French and English by Taigen and Jehn. The physical space in which they perform mimics a large U-shape to contain as much of the audience as possible in the centre. The two drummers coalesce at the ‘bottom’ of the U, and the rest of the groups shape up to the top.
Words To The Blind amalgamates this new masterpiece into one 37-minute-long showcase culminating in a co-release between Stolen Recordings and Pop Noire on November 17.
As Boiler Room endeavour to dabble beyond the nether regions of electronic music, we are proud to be streaming the live joint performance from Oval Space. Tune in on November 19 for an experience that is both poetic and serrated in equal measure.