Urs Graf Consort - Fireproof Sweat

Bison once again return to the time-warped zone of European arthouse music with this latest record by polyglot synthesists, Urs Graf Consort. The group performed in five different languages on their previous album, but here sing in Italian alone, the reason for which isn't entirely clear given the meaning behind the record and its connection to France - a decade ago, four friends closely connected to the band died in a fire in Paris, and Fireproof Sweat is a tribute to their memory that incorporates feelings of survivors guilt and the desire to live on in earnest. It's heavy material no question, duly reflected in a suite of circus nightmare prog pyrotechnics and time signature elasticity. The label bills this as an introspective collection, though that may be more present in the lyrics than the music itself, the latter of which is equal parts cerebral, instinctive, playful and aggressive. There's clearly a dynamism at work in the interplay between the six members that says something of their collective grief and will to endure in the face of such challenges. This is undoubtedly a challenging record, and a heavy one, too, which, when you boil it down, seems as fitting way as any to confront senseless death - head on and on your own terms is clearly the Urs Graf Consort way. 
 
FFO: This Heat, Charles Hayward, Fire! Orchestra, The Thing, Aksak Maboul, Henry Cow