Scattered Bodies - Talking Songs (Dream Tower)

For the second spoken word album by Canadian poet, Brian Brett, producer Andy Meyers constructed backing tracks from samples of his late ’70s/early ’80s (and reformed as of 2008) Toronto proto-art punk band, The Scenics, to create a dark, visceral backdrop for Brett’s words.

For the most part, Talking Songs is ominously hypnotic, Brett’s voice intoning lyrical passages of sex and doom over rhythmic droning loops, allowing the tracks to become more songs than poems set to music, particularly on the dirty, driving, “Domestic Mysteries.” Even “Clothing Of My Youth” exudes a psychedelic garage rock vibe, though “Every Woman Is Beautiful” is hillbilly Bukowski. These tales of women and death are offset by Susheela Dawne‘s songs, where Brett’s poetry transforms into twisted beauty under the spell of her sexy, whispering voice, as in the carnival-lounge of “The Many Moments” and “Time Of The Thrush”‘s pulsing soul. It’s a brilliant collaboration of talents, the peak of a pyramid built by words, music, voice and passion.

Where many spoken word albums can be unlistenably pretentious, Talking Songs succeeds on the balance of poetry and music, where they are complementary rather than struggling with each other. Delve into the morbid world of Scattered Bodies and hear how it should be done.