On paper, the combination of 60s pop genius-turned-avant-garde auteur Scott Walker and experimental metal duo Sunn O))) (speciality: extreme slowness at extreme volume) might not sound hugely alluring. And yet the resulting album is rich in imagination, and – at times, most notably on Bull and Brando – surprisingly accessible (even if Walker singing, “Hey nonny nonny” on Lullaby does unintentionally conjure images of Blackadder). None of the five songs clocks in at under eight minutes, but their length works to their advantage, with Walker’s distinctive voice given room to breathe in the wide spaces between the gradually evolving, monolithic guitar riffs and unsettlingly discordant stabs of electronica.
