{"id":1549,"date":"2016-06-11T22:50:46","date_gmt":"2016-06-11T22:50:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/doktorjohn.com\/?p=1549"},"modified":"2016-06-15T13:38:16","modified_gmt":"2016-06-15T13:38:16","slug":"1549","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/doktorjohn.com\/?p=1549","title":{"rendered":"The Burning Bridge"},"content":{"rendered":"

Noir\"The<\/a>
\nThe Burning Bridge
\nMetropolis<\/p>\n

by Doktor John<\/p>\n

This is Noir\u2019s fourth release and it is dedicated to David Bowie. Noir consists of frontman Athan Maroulis<\/a>, formerly of Spahn Ranch<\/a> and Black Tape for a Blue Girl and keyboardists and backup female vocalists Kai Irina Hahn and Demetra Songs. In this collection they continue in what Maroulis terms the \u201cElectro-Gothic\u201d style. Isn\u2019t that what the rest of us call \u201cindustrial?\u201d <\/p>\n

With this EP, he has re-interpreted a number of lesser-known classics from the New Wave era and added a brilliant original piece, namely the title track, \u201cThe Burning Bridge.\u201d For this, track, he took a 40 second techno-instrumental groove by associate Erik Gustafson, digested it and set to it lyrics that envisioned himself or something like his ghost soaring through the night as a disembodied spirit. This artistic concept allowed him to look back beyond bridges that he had burned behind him to revisit experiences and repressed personal situations long since forgotten. He set this narrative to a perfectly danceable, electro-industrial rhythm track, richly overlaid with menacing deep, dark synthesizer melodies and his undulating, plaintive, yet angry vocals.<\/p>\n

Noir turns Ministry\u2019s pre-\u201cWith Sympathy,\u201d 1982 upbeat obscurity, \u201cSame Old Madness,\u201d into a downbeat, lumbering slog through a knee-deep techno-industrial swamp, the heavy trudging paces marked by the mantra-like repetition of the title.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Chauffeur\u201d continues in the persevering, slow trudge mode, not as ponderous, but still It retains the eerie negativity of the Duran Duran original, largely by unusual and somewhat discordant arpeggios and a zombie-paced cadenced percussion.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn Every Dream Home a Heartache,\u201d recorded live off a WFMU broadcast session, Noir\u2019s version of Roxy Music\u2019s creepiest piece, Noir slows it down even further to a funereal pace accompanying his mournful vocals with distant, echoing chimes, noise effects and instrumentals that might serve as the soundtrack for a horror movie.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Burning Bridge\u201d offers musical pleasures of several varieties. First, there is an excellent new and original title track. Then there is the guilty pleasure of enjoying re-invented covers of lesser-know works from well-known artists. Finally, there is the unique, undulant vibrato vox of Goth-industrial pioneer Athan Maroulis to add a novel and classic touch to each of these tracks.<\/p>\n

Rating: A
\nIn a word: Short\u2019n\u2019Bittersweet<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Noir The Burning Bridge Metropolis by Doktor John This is Noir\u2019s fourth release and it is dedicated to David Bowie. Noir consists of frontman Athan Maroulis, formerly of Spahn Ranch and Black Tape for a Blue Girl and keyboardists and backup female vocalists Kai Irina Hahn and Demetra Songs. In this collection they continue in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/doktorjohn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1549"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/doktorjohn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/doktorjohn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/doktorjohn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/doktorjohn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1549"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/doktorjohn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1549\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1555,"href":"https:\/\/doktorjohn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1549\/revisions\/1555"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/doktorjohn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1549"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/doktorjohn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1549"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/doktorjohn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1549"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}