This is a beautiful mess of an album. By that, I mean there are so many musical style elements included, mixed together so well, it defies an easy description. Whether you like noise, industrial, electronic, space rock, dub, drone…well, you get the idea. And it’s all built around the concept of the nine mythological muses (and GoB includes a handy link if you want to read up more on that), with each song named for one of them.
All of the tracks have a lot to offer; they’re a tangle, but in a way that allows you to notice different elements with each listen. Some highlights include “Urania – Collapse Astronomy Now” which sounds like jazz from another dimension. “Thalia – My Nitrous Howl” starts out like broken music box playing underwater, but then gets more distraught and noisy as it progresses. “Terpsichore – We Got Sway” is largely percussion driven, but not always in a straightforward beats way. Instead there are clave sounds (at first) and then a drum and bass bed for some dark sounding crime film noise. “Euterpe – Instruments of Instruction” sets down cycles of beautiful ambient drones. And finally, “Calliope – An Epic of Returns” starts with some nature sounds and distorted voices, but evolves into some languorous beats of deep dub.
There’s one other interesting element I should mention. “9” is out on the Argali Records Netlabel, and one of the label honchos for Argali is John Lithium. John created a “Tool Box” he describes as “a two volume sound source collection I recorded a few years back for anyone looking for inspiration, remix materials, soundscapes, etc.” Indeed, GoB acknowledges they used that for inspiration on this record. And speaking of inspiration, I love me some Nick Cave, so much respect to Glove of Bones for taking their group name from one of his lyrics. OK, that’s two interesting elements; the music will provide you with many, many more.