Rotterdam based folk noir band The Bullfight have raised the bar once again with their new album Some Divine Gift: nine spoken word pieces accompanied by intricate soundscapes, rock and jazzy excursions written by the band's resident versatile composer Thomas van Vliet. For their previous album Eggs & Marrowbone the band invited artists to illustrate the songs, an excellent idea that is once more part of the package, but they did not stop there. Barry Hay (of Golden Earring fame), Spinvis, David Boulter (Tindersticks), Alex Roeka, Daisy Cools, Henry Rollins, and Mark Ritsema all said yes when they got the call to lend their voices to a piece.
Spoken word and poetry are not necessarily easy on the ears. In most of popular music the words are an afterthought, preferably with a catchy refrain. On Some Divine Gift it is the other way round, with the music as a vessel for the thoughts and musings of the man or woman at the microphone. Hitting the ground running with Barry Hay solemnly working his way through Ozymandias, the fabled sonnet written by Percy Bysshe Shelley in 1818, it instantly becomes clear that this an album that deserved undivided attention. Dutch experimental lo-fi artist Spinvis is next with the sad De Ogen Van de Bruid - he will likely reconsider his own shoestring budget approach after recording with such a wealth of accomplished musicians.
