Here Comes The Flood: The Bullfight: 81 Bedford St.

Dutch folk noir band The Bullfight always do things differently. Inviting fellow artists to act as spoken word contributors for an album? Check. Write a novel and provide the soundtrack? Check. Oddly enough they never did a film score, but that gap in their resume is now filled with 81 Bedford St., an imaginary neo-film noir set in the Seventies, with lots of booze, a femme fatale and the CIA being up to no good, as the main characters are trying to make sense of it all in that foreboding building after which the film was named.

Most soundtracks are connect-the-dots affairs, with a few well-known popular songs and a run-of-the-mill theme that a composer won't lose any sleep over to create to something memorable. Not so for 81 Bedford St. on which the band's resident writer and multi-instrumentalist Thomas van Vliet went above and beyond with a bunch of songs that are closely linked to create a narrative, but also can hold their own and be enjoyed as such. There is jazz, industrial noise, torch singing, avant-garde, pastoral violin driven baroque pop, and much, much more.

81 Bedford St. does not really need the visuals. This album can conjure up a flurry of images in the listener's mind's eye that will be extremely costly to capture on film. It is a trip for the ears, a maze to wander around in and feel lost in a good way.

The Bullfight:
Daisy Cools: vocals
Conrad Freeling: organ, banjo
Ludo de Goeje: violin, accordeon
André van den Hoek: drums, percussion
Eddie Kuijpers: bass, double bass
Tim Moerkerken: Fender Rhodes, synth, piano
Nick Verhoeven: vocals
Thomas van der Vliet: guitar, piano, synth, samples
Esther Vroegindeweij: violin
Dick Ronteltap: saxophone on "Nur…Schmerz!"

81 Bedford St. will be released on November 21st (180 grams salmon 45rpm vinyl, CD) via Brandy Alexander Recordings & Sonic Rendezvous. A bundle of the LP, CD and A1 movie poster is available at the merch table or send an email to bar-recordings@hotmail.com.

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