An utterly unique accomplishment, Scott Walker's THE DRIFT is the enigmatic British-based singer-songwriter's first official album since 1995's challenging TILT. Those looking for the Brechtian drama and crooner stylings of Walker's lauded late-'60s work will happily find them on these 10 haunting tracks, albeit in altered forms that often bypass melody to create what sometimes recalls a chilling sonic abstraction of Edgar Allan Poe's writings.
While two extended tracks, "Clara" and "Cue," wander down some frightening paths (occasionally calling to mind Kronos Quartet's BLACK ANGELS), and make up a considerable amount of THE DRIFT, the record also includes slightly less daunting pieces such as "Cossacks Are," which builds to propulsive rhythmic passages, and "Jesse," a brooding song seemingly rising up from some forsaken underground chamber. Far from accessible, yet mesmerizing in its bleak minimalist vision, THE DRIFT once again reinforces Walker's reputation as a fascinating and thoroughly unconventional artist.
Professional Reviews
Spin (p.90) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "THE DRIFT is an intimidating slab of off-kilter guitar wheedles, weird percussion, thudding synths, and that voice: soaring, roaring..."
Alternative Press (p.210) - "With THE DRIFT, Walker has gone as far into the atmosphere as one can travel while still being earthbound."
The Wire (p.50) - "THE DRIFT has real, corporeal impact....The ten songs on THE DRIFT document states of personal and political uncertainty..."
Mojo (Publisher) (p.102) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "[T]he spectre of his old aesthetic preoccupations -- modernist literature, nouvelle vague cinema, existential angst -- is evident throughout."
