Music’s dual nature is perplexing, to say the least. It can be utilized as a tool for emotional upheaval and freedom, and it can also be a weapon to unleash fury and bile that has been festering all these years. Big Brave, Montreal’s pride and joy, has certainly leaned on the latter, as their latest LP Nature Morte is a half-hour dirge on the subjugation of the feminine by the toxic traits of men that’s unfortunately all too common in relationships since time immemorial. Across 6 elegiac songs, vocalist Robin Wattie’s acrid screams, Mathieu Ball’s distorted guitars and heavy use of negative space, and Tasy Hudson’s skull-crushing submission of her drums, convey tunes that are at once both brain-rattlingly heavy and quietly contemplative.
Woozy bending strings featured prominently in choice cut “The One Who Bornes a Heavy Load”, as Wattie reaches deep inside to wrench a confession of an abuse that the lyrics allude to. It’s a song that demands absolute attention of the listener, because if at some point, you have committed an atrocious act of violence in its myriad forms, then Big Brave’s got you in their crosshairs and this song is the fucking bullet.
Gentle guitar plucking that can lull you into a sense of false security of relaxation, that’s “The Fable of Subjugation”‘s calling card. Overall, Nature Morte showcases a band who is unafraid to call out bullshit as they see it in the name of a better future for victims of abuse. The band spent their blood and soul into a record so vital that I believe we have already got one of 2023’s AOTYs.