On the face of it, this new album by Non-Fatal Injuries (Anthony Morrow and Alan Morse Davies) is pretty simple. And pretty. For starters, look at that beautiful album cover art by Matt Bower. Then there’s the lovely music, which is actually one long track of ambient synth and organ that maintains its lovely presence over its 31+ minute duration. The song also includes an old (1948, to be exact) radio broadcast blended into the track. This adds a really interesting element to the overall sound and, while I guess you could focus on the words and have the music fall to the background, I found to opposite occurred to me. I was carried by the music, with the words acting as an undemanding sound element to the overall piece. It’s really nicely done.
Well, here’s where things can get more intense. If you do choose to focus on the words, it’s actually excerpts of a debate between Bertrand Russell and Frederick Copleston concerning the frivolous topic of…the existence of God. You know – the type of light programming that comes on these days after, say, “The Bachelor.” So if you want to go deep, it’s right there for you.
Then there’s the rabbit hole Non-Fatal Injuries sent me on. In the brief notes accompanying this album it says “Inspired by the world’s largest ever release of balloons, Balloonfest ’86 and the collateral damage it caused…” Hmmm, never heard of that, so it’s off to The Google I go. And what I found was Crazy (with a capital C). A very large release of balloons occurred on September 27, 1986 in Cleveland, Ohio, but there were numerous mishaps related to the event. I won’t retell it all here, but one of the negative consequences was the permanent injuries caused by some of the balloons to some Arabian horses living in a nearby pasture. So that was the “Multiple Horses” and the “Non-Fatal Injuries” of the band and title. If your interest in Balloonfest has been piqued, here’s a short video about the event:
In summary, you can come to “Multiple Horses” for the beguiling music, to think about the existence of God, and/or to learn about the horror simple balloons can cause. It’s out now on Submarine Broadcasting Company netlabel and available as download or CD.