released July 2017
Burnt Friedman / “Dead Saints Chronicles” EP
PITCHFORK Review
Review at FREQ
With a title that refers to a book about near-death experiences, suitably enough, Burnt Friedman‘s first release for Marionette draws upon his archive of recordings to construct a new EP of circling, abstract rhythms topped off with ghostly musical remnants.
One could be forgiven for assuming that the spirit of Friedman’s late and much-missed musical collaborator Jaki Liebezeit is also present here, as the beats, pulses and grooves shimmer with both his presence, found both in the precise placement of the drums and in their spare arrangements, and his absence. But this is Freidman solo, and his programming and playing reverberates to his own moods and intent, swirls of elephantine charges mingling with ethnodelic sample loops and deep, dub-drenched bass detonations. (FREQ)
A1 Near Life (120-11)
A2 Acroagnosis (215-15)
A3 Languish (137-12)
B1 Grace (85-7) feat. Joseph Suchy
B2 Wentletrap (183-3) feat. Hayden Chisholm
B3 Repentance feat. Hayden Chisholm
Marionette 5
Despite the variety of instruments assembled here—serrated synths, stubby electric bass, and guitar and reeds played, respectively, by two long-time collaborators, Joseph Suchy and Hayden Chisholm—it is, at heart, a drummer’s record. Steel pans, bells, shakers, and deep, resonant toms yield an opulent spread of timbres and textures, and everything feels suspended in a state of permanent flux. In fact, there are few held tones at all. ( Philip Sherburne, Pitchfork)