Boris are an interesting bunch. Collaborating with a whole range of people over a series of records from the heavy drone of Sun O))) to, on Rainbow, one of Japan’s most inventive guitarists, Michio Kurihara. Their previous “solo” album, Pink, was one of the highlights of last year. A mad, bad and raucous stream of drone and feedback that was as accessible as it was obscure. With Rainbow, they’ve stepped back from the brink and crafted, with the help of Kurihara, an album of understated presence and poise.

As opening track Rafflesia bursts into life with a wall of slurred guitars and half-wailed vocals, the guitars arch and swoop through the dense atmosphere of music. It’s grand and surprisingly focused, there’s a piercing sense of direction crafted by Kurihara’s guitar whilst Boris make a swelling ocean of drums and guitars around it, gently coaxing it into life. The title track is a brooding piece of rock that reminds me of recent Sonic Youth records, a straightforward song with whispered vocals over shuffling drums and a solitary but gentle electric guitar. It seems like the quiet after the storm of the opening track. That is until more guitars creak into existence about half way through, a juttering and fuzzy angle of a solo that then gives way to the gentle shuffle again. Starship Narrator is a thumping 70’s stomp of a track, the guitars are deep and dark in the mix, slowly chugging their way around the spaced out vocals and crashing drums. Kurihara’s solo then smashes it’s way to the fore, shredding its way through all the other music and dominating the song like King Kong over New York, faint chants seemingly worshipping this noise in the background. Once again this is followed by a gently beautiful track called My Rain. It’s quiet guitars pick their way through it’s meager two minutes, a backwards skip the only thing to disturb the still pool of music that they’ve created. The record hits these peaks and troughs of energy continually, ripping it up and calming it down. From the sprawling shoe-gaze of Shine to the prog-rock swirls of Fuzzy Reactor and finishing with the gentle stream of …And, I Want that may start with a sinister piece of electronica, but sweeps into a piece of music that could soundtrack a love scene.

This might be Boris’ most accessible work to date. There’s nothing here to scare people and, as a means of an introduction into Boris, it’s the best place to start. But, in the end, this is the records greatest failing. That’s not to say that the record sucks, it’s still great, it’s just that, from Boris, you expect something a bit more, music that wants to crack open your skull and suck out what’s inside. With Rainbow they’ve wrong footed everyone again and crafted a soundtrack to something completely different, a soundtrack to a summer’s day or a Sunday morning. What they’ll do next though, is anyone’s guess.
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Links
Boris [official site]