Live Review: BV announce hiatus with one final release in 'Monolith/Hounds Out'

It was a bittersweet moment for fans of Sydney electronic trio BV, fka Black Vanilla last week. They've dropped a double single of warped dance jams 'Monolith' and 'Hands Out', but also announced an indefinite hiatus from music after the news that long-time member Lavurn Lee aka Fake was returning to Canada.

A collaboration between Marcus Whale (one half of Collarbones), Lavurn Lee (Cassius Select and now Fake), and Jarred Beeler (DJ Plead), the trio instantly found a connection in claustrophobic and alien dance tracks. Their last release, the mammoth mixtape B2V, was perhaps the best example; a mixture of spoken word dominating noisy, sporadic beats, alongside the occasional instrumental club banger.

The first track, 'Monolith' sounds like classic BV with the gain turned way up. With a looping beat reminiscent of US noise-techno act Container, warped layers of spoken word create a rushed and almost anxious atmosphere. Additional percussion and alien sound effects build as the track goes on, before suddenly exploding with a distorted drop and a garbled synth hook. It sounds like a cross between a retro video-game soundtrack playing from a cartridge somebody stomped on, and what I imagine a nightclub scene from David Lynch's Dune adaption would sound like. What I mean is, it sounds absolutely demented and freaking phenomenal.

'Hounds Out' gives you some breathing room after the preceding track, but is still chock full of distorted goodness. Built around a pounding kick and ghostly cowbell hits, the vocals are a lot clearer, standing tall above distant synths and a pounding low end. It's a much slower burn than 'Monolith' but a great counterpoint, perfectly displaying the two sides of BV.

It's a shame to see BV go, especially after such a killer double single, but we know that whatever these noisy boys do, it's going to be insane - and we can't wait to see it.

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WORDS BY MAX LEWIS

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