Lark is an independent London based band founded by Karl Bielik, a nonconformist and often idiosyncratic songwriter, frontman and artist. `Be Still` is the band`s seventh album which continues the singer`s stylistic writing approach, part improvisation and part cut up technique pioneered by William S. Burroughs whereby Bielik pens whole sections of songs or lines of lyrics on paper, cuts them up into pieces, then puts them together at random. On `Be Still`the fragments tell of uneasy childhood memories re-processed in adulthood with references to Hungarian roots and immigration; the fear of the passing of time and love, birth, decay, and death; cultural and art references, and the lingering effects of the pandemic’s dystopia.
We are introduced to `Be Still` with the title track and it`s a fairly haunting opening with tinkling piano keys and a guiding bass line with lyrics that encourage us to remain calm. We have a rolling rhythmic percussive beat leading us through `Blind` which may relate to skewed childhood reminiscences.
`Decorate` is described by Bielik, as: “A filthy little song of healing, forgiveness, loss and hope filtering through a dirty cracked windshield of lo-fi sleaze.” It has a heavy bassline courtesy of Emma Richardsonof The Pixies and is pretty desolate with gothic undertones but not without a sense of exquisiteness. A recurring drum machine pulse and possibly an electronic riff underpin the artists vocals on `Goodbye Man` which gives the number a fairly dystopian feel.
`She Breaks` has a fairly other-worldly texture with an aural soundscape that sounds as if the tape has been run backwards at times but is oddly enchanting. The title `Shimmy` kind of sums up this short piece which kind of shimmers or wobbles.
`The Underpass` has an avant-garde mood with a guitar riff that for me brought to mind a bizarre James Bond like theme and maybe hinted at romantic encounters. There appears to be a further hint of romance or maybe it`s mortality with the hypnotically almost melodic `Answer`.
`Sixpence` is fairly minimalist and for me conjures a feeling of isolation, a remoteness not disconnected but certainly unfastened. There appeared to be a folk tinged almost sea shanty come waltz like approach to `The Ink House` which may have been a self-analytical, self-critical appraisal which ends with a nigh on communal singalong.
The album closes with `Powders` a fairly absorbing meld of music with vocals stretched atop.
Karl Bielik`s approach to songwriting may be deemed as being fairly random but like his visceral process driven oil paintings, this artist`s music conveys abstract auditory soundscapes that are fairly challenging at times but do have a deep sense of beauty to be discovered within.
Rating 8/10
