{"title":"Big \/ Brave","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"nature-morte","title":"nature morte","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe title, nature morte, is the French term for still life paintings whose literal translation is “dead nature.” Big | Brave colour the songs of nature morte with unease, creating an air of beauty in decay, chords suspended in contemplative stillness. Robin Wattie’s experiences structuring lyrics and song forms on The Body and Big | Brave’s Leaving None But Small Birds informed her work on nature morte, creating stories that, like many folk tales, are at once specific and universal. Wattie’s voice manages to be commanding and vulnerable with impressive range and intimacy. Even her gasps carve their way through the tidal crash of Mathieu Ball’s distortion wail and the pummel of Tasy Hudson’s drums. The momentum of nature morte conjures the image of a beast collapsing beneath its own weight before resiliently staggering upright to thunder onward. Big | Brave convey heft from silence as deftly as they do from swaths of feedback and distortion to cathartic ends. “Distortion is key,” notes Ball. The three members recorded primarily live over the course of a week at Machines with Magnets with Seth Manchester, pushing the potential of their instruments beyond expectations. For each song, the trio’s songwriting and attention to detail deliver its simple but devastating emotional power.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Thrill Jockey","offers":[{"title":"Purple LP","offer_id":50404350689611,"sku":"2000348","price":32.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"CD","offer_id":50404348035403,"sku":"2000345","price":14.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"LP","offer_id":50404349608267,"sku":"2000346","price":32.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/4f63206e-9637-b187-7ac7-e6290d686484_1d8e765d_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1726568418"},{"product_id":"a-chaos-of-flowers","title":"A Chaos of Flowers","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eA Chaos Of Flowers\u003c\/i\u003e is an album that builds on their ferocious 2023 album nature morte. Big|Brave’s music has been described as massive minimalism. Their fusillades of textural distortion and feedback emphasize their music’s frayed edges as much as its all-encompassing weight. The potency of the trio’s work is their singular artistry combining elements of traditional folk techniques and a modern deconstruction of guitar music. Gain, feedback, and amplitude are essential. For \u003ci\u003eA Chaos Of Flowers \u003c\/i\u003eguitarist\/vocalist Robin Wattie drew heavily on the poems of artists whom Wattie found kinship in, their words resonant with experiences of those often sidelined by cultural norms. “I discovered that most poems from folk traditions or in the public domain seem to be by men – to which I could not quite relate. In my search, I rediscovered some of my favorite works and poets,” says Wattie. Guitarist Mathieu Ball and drummer Tasy Hudson help Wattie shape poetry into pieces as dense and impenetrable as they are vulnerable. Big|Brave achieve their colossal sound through minimalist approaches, a deft understanding of dynamics and an inventive employment of percussion and distortion. The trio reconceptualize what it is to be heavy or minimal, challenging perceptions with their illumination of painfully overlooked perspectives. Guest guitarist Marisa Anderson lends earthen, blues-inflected atmospheres to the album, where guitarist Tashi Dorji and saxophonist Patrick Shiroishi amplify the squall. Working closely with frequent collaborator and producer\/engineer Seth Manchester, the internal tumult of Wattie’s voice rings out in warbles, haunting echoes, and unearthly harmonies across bold immense walls of distortion. Big|Brave have collaborated with metal monsters The Body on a previous Thrill Jockey release, Leaving None But Small Birds, and have toured internationally with bands like Sumac, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, SUNN O))), and Lingua Ignota. As they continue to ascend in their journey as pioneers in the contemporary metal scene, it’s safe to say that Big|Brave are here to stay.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Thrill Jockey","offers":[{"title":"Black LP","offer_id":50406725779787,"sku":"2174380","price":32.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"Pink LP","offer_id":50406725976395,"sku":"2174382","price":32.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"CD","offer_id":50406725452107,"sku":"2174378","price":13.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/2c09175f-68db-ed50-b436-7b1a1b574d53_0e98efa1_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1726589956"},{"product_id":"ardor","title":"Ardor","description":"\u003cp\u003eAs with their previous release, \u003ci\u003eArdor \u003c\/i\u003ewas recorded a the Hotel2Tango, this time by Radwan Ghazi Moumneh (of Jerusalem In My Heart). Jessica Moss (Thee Silver Mt Zion Memorial Orchestra), who was a special guest on Au De La, played violin on all of the three new tracks and Thierry Amar (Godspeed You! Black Emperor) played contrabass on two of the tracks. While the teaser barely tips one minute, it speaks volumes regarding what’s to come in Big | Brave’s next endeavor; swirling static, booming guitars, powerful drums—all the hallmarks that have made them one of experimental rock’s most exciting acts today. With just three songs that clock in for a 40-minute-long LP, Big | Brave have adopted a nearly unbearable level of urgency and intensity that weaves throughout \u003ci\u003eArdor\u003c\/i\u003e. Since their inception in 2012, Big | Brave demonstrate the fluidity of experimental rock when elaborated into vast, abstract, and often hypnotic sounds, saturated in soulbaring emotion. The trio put everything into their music, until there's nothing left to give. Their particular art in musical refinement expands ever gradually, unfurling into a very heavy, strong, and elevating force. As comfortable as they are with tidal waves of sound, Big | Brave is unafraid to experiment with silence, oscillating between sparse, gentle arrangements and deep swells of noise \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Southern Lord","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":50471419543883,"sku":"1014414","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/389fa1bc-a747-4924-8104-9f0b6d2bd7a4_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1727402023"},{"product_id":"vital","title":"Vital","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eArtist Name\u003c\/strong\u003e combines minimalism and instinct, structure\/freedom, and meticulous timing to create a precise, rhythmical sound.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe album, \u003cem\u003eAlbum Name\u003c\/em\u003e, lyrically explores the weight of race and gender, endurance, navigating other people's behaviors, observation, and protest.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe band further comments, \"\u003cem\u003ethis album involves what it means navigating the outside world in a racialized body and what it does to the psyche as a whole while finding individual worth within this reality\u003c\/em\u003e.\"\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Southern Lord","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":50473989734731,"sku":"1115794","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/5292b42a-c730-4a9e-abcb-bda869e17eb3_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1727432705"},{"product_id":"a-gaze-among-them","title":"A Gaze Among Them","description":"\u003cp\u003eIn the process of revisiting their early intentions, Big \/ Brave have boldly evolved, emerging with a thrilling new body of work that is all at once refreshingly new, explosively heavy, dynamically loud, beautifully minimal, carefully repetitive, and totally and utterly cathartic. It combines elements of Björk, Neurosis, The White Stripes, and Sunn O))) into a cohesive whole; but this whole is an ever evolving and challenging sonic mass\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eA Gaze Among Them\u003c\/i\u003e features Robin Wattie (vocals, electric guitar, guitar amp, bass amp), Mathieu Ball (electric guitar, guitar amps) and Loel Campbell (drums) with guest appearances from Thierry Amar (Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Thee Silver Mt Zion) on Contrabass and Seth Manchester's synth overdubs. The album was recorded with Seth Manchester at Machine with Magnets in Pawtucket Rhode Island.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Southern Lord","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":50483025215819,"sku":"1060378","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/2a6b6a3d-49b5-4fd6-8cf0-d422eb110f96_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1727559967"},{"product_id":"ost-1","title":"OST","description":"\u003cp\u003eBig | Brave’s preternatural instincts and depth of skill as musicians are on full display on their most naked and austere record to date, \u003cem\u003eOST\u003c\/em\u003e. The trio entered the studio with broader concepts and themes in mind, but no preconceived music. The overarching concept was to make a film score for a film that had yet to be created, to use minimal instrumentation, or *more specifically not their standard band instruments, and to improvise within these parameters. “Although this record could stand on its own, we envisioned it being paired with moving images, which introduced a fresh and exciting way of working,” notes guitarist Mathieu Ball. In addition to forgoing their usual instrumentation, they notably built their own. Ball created a stringed instrument using piano strings simply called “The Instrument”. This instrument ended up becoming a central figure to the \u003cem\u003eOST’s\u003c\/em\u003e sound. Guitarist\/vocalist Robin Wattie adds: “The strings Mathieu used for his instrument came from a discarded piano thatch that had been laying around in the hallway of my tattoo studio for ages.” The Instrument’s presence is felt throughout the record as a conductive element amplifying the album’s earthly, grounded nature. \u003cem\u003eOST \u003c\/em\u003ewas fully written and recorded in the studio. The band was free to enter the live room and record a take with whatever instrument was at hand. Once they had a good foundation for a song, Ball, Wattie, drummer Tasy Hudson and even engineer\/producer Seth Manchester would each build on it, layering takes, from instrumental improvisations to abstract vocals, until they felt it was a completed piece. Wattie’s voice seamlessly blends with the instrumental flourishes made from “The Instrument”, a Wurlitzer, prepared piano, synths and a very limited amount of electric guitar. Additionally, there is a sprinkling of flute by Melissa Guion (MJ Guider).\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Thrill Jockey","offers":[{"title":"LP - Black","offer_id":51393095762251,"sku":"R0737-1428","price":33.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"LP - Clear","offer_id":51393095795019,"sku":"R0737-1161","price":37.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/201375020019.jpg?v=1741183489"},{"product_id":"in-grief-or-in-hope","title":"in grief or in hope","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe work of Big \/ Brave is ever-expanding. The trio’s singular masterful sculpting of sonics into songcraft tucks layers of vulnerability into frenetic storms. \u003cem\u003ein grief or in hope\u003c\/em\u003e is an innovative vision of electro-acoustic sound and emotive storytelling, an endless bounty of overwhelming distortions and devastating beauty. \u003cem\u003ein grief or in hope\u003c\/em\u003e marks a shift for Big \/ Brave towards denser guitar-oriented compositions. With longtime touring bassist Liam Andrews (My Disco, Aicher) joining guitarist\/vocalist Robin Wattie and guitarist Mathieu Ball in the studio for the first time, the pieces are keenly layered with a rich tapestry of harmonics and tonal intricacies. The trio’s instinctual progressions made more vivid through live recording, harnessing the gargantuan and storied sound of their performances. Wattie writes: \" All that I could reflect on was grief and hope; death and life; cause and effect; shared experiences of being a human person.” The tenth album for the ensemble, \u003cem\u003ein grief or in hope\u003c\/em\u003e pays homage to their past while looking into their future. Standout “the ineptitude for mutual discernment” expands on lyrical themes first explored on 2015’s Au De La where “verdure” echoes melodies from the title track of 2014’s Feral Verdure. These references to their past serve as potent reflections on Big \/ Brave’s evolution as artists. A sonic whirlpool of string instruments surround Wattie’s commanding vocals as she shifts from spectral undulations on pieces like “what may be the kindest way to leave” to the direct, spare declarations of the title track. The ambiguity of mountainous chords on “an uttering of antipathy” are coupled with autotuned phrases emphasizing the protagonists’ isolation inside the fray. Together the trio shift deliver emotional momentum that vividly describes the complex and deep feelings of struggle, pain, and transcendence.\u003cem\u003e in grief or in hope\u003c\/em\u003e transmits that sense of humanity with every gesture.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Thrill Jockey","offers":[{"title":"LP - Clear Pink","offer_id":56761641402699,"sku":"R0454-7847","price":36.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD","offer_id":56761641435467,"sku":"R0454-6216","price":14.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"LP - Black","offer_id":56761641468235,"sku":"R0454-7843","price":34.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/unnamed-2026-03-10T103925.746.jpg?v=1773139171"}],"url":"https:\/\/shop.roughtrade.com\/collections\/big-brave.oembed","provider":"Rough Trade","version":"1.0","type":"link"}