Formed in sunny San Diego, the Black Heart Procession writes the
kind of gloomy, downcast dirges you’d expect from less hospitable
climates. Their sixth release is their first as a duo, and it arrives
just in time for autumn.
As if playing in a pile of leaves, Six finds pleasure in
decay. The solemn piano tinkle of “When You Finish Me” begins things on
an oddly touching note, though it’s the spooky oohing and the rough
bass line of “Wasteland” that offer the first real hook.
Singer Pall Jenkins’ tombstone croon recounts a twisted Orphic
journey into the underworld to take one last bit of revenge on a
thoughtless lover; “Witching Stone” finds Jenkins and
multi-instrumentalist Tobias Nathaniel galloping through portentous
landscapes of poppy fields and lightning-streaked skies, a welcome
bright spot of melody that’s still imbued with bad hoodoo. Although
titles like “Suicide” and “Drugs” may seem a touch overt, the songs are
not overwrought clichés — the latter is even a sparse
ballad in the vein of Leonard Cohen. (Temporary Residence)
