The Church

Hologram Of Baal

Sweet and static

Review Score:

(8/10)
In the liner notes for Hologram Of Baal there is a credit for William Bowden, who contributed "radiotronics" to six of its songs. For me there's something radiotronic about the whole album - the engineering (by drummer Tim Powles) gives the music a distant, fuzzy ambience, so that it sounds as if when listening to the record I'm actually tuned into an AM radio station. Such an atmosphere initially flustered me, such that I felt the album to be rather stodgy and bogged down; however, the more I listen to it, the more I feel that the production enhances the record's easy, unhurried mood. With the exception of No Certainty Attached, which to me seems to be a little forced, Hologram Of Baal shimmers with densely layered waves of guitar and graceful, unhurried song structures. Louisiana, Tranquility and the astonishing Glow-Worm are particularly glorious.

It seems that it was at around the time of the release of Magician Among The Spirits that certain critics began to weary of The Church and that words such as "bloated" and "tired" were bandied around in the circles of those who were in the know. For me, however, the latter record and Hologram Of Baal epitomise everything that I like about The Church - in particular, their continual avoidance of being pigeonholed (early 1980s references to jangly psychedelia aside) and their proud hoisting of the flag of idiosyncrasy in the damp, sluggish atmosphere of simple guitar-based rock.

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