bunsenburner – Reverie

bunsenburner – Reverie
Release Date:
17th January 2025
Label: Bensnburner Records
Bandcamp
Genre: Where to start? Go from Stoner Rock to Doom to Psych to Experimental and turn 90 degrees.
FFO: The above genres wrapped up as an instrumental package.
Review By: Mark Young

Bunsenburner are a collective, a sum of parts that bring together so many different musical approaches and somehow fashion them into fully formed shapes of sonic love. I love it when I’m given something like this to review, where it’s a new band (at least for me) that comes in and says ‘have a bit of this’ and I didn’t know what to expect because I think the best way is to go in blind with no preconceived expectations, especially as it is a collection of instrumental tracks.

Did I mention that, generally, I don’t have a lot of love for instrumentals? There have been some exceptions to this, Din of Celestial Birds, Mountain Caller and Weite to name three albums that I’ve loved in the last two years. I think it’s more to do with bands throwing them in as interludes, as opposed to offering a fully instrumental experience. 

Let’s get into it with Gleam of the Goddess coming in, gradually rising drums as they build up their introductory soundscape before it launches into a riff-set that grabs you immediately. There is a sense that it has been knitted together from a thousand jam sessions, ruthlessly hewn into the finished shape that kicks proceedings off. Trigger has that same touch, born with a swing and a swagger that covers a lot of ground in its short run time. Letting Go (softly) is easy going, measured and tees up its louder sibling which has a fatter sound whilst keeping that steady approach going. There is some fabulous lead work on this one that is one-upped on the opening bars of Golden Shower. A rule of thumb for me is that if a song makes me want to learn how to play it, then it’s good. This album does that in spades. From Catfight, with its lurching build, through to Golden Shower and then the electronic blasts of Dear Hollow into TORO, with its low-end sound, each song has a unique build to it with a common denominator that it wants you to move. The breadth of ideas is as expansive as they promised. 

They drop the hammer on Triskaidekaphobie, which is a stand-out on an album of top quality. That low-end attack is taken from TORO and goes into beast mode. It would have been easy for them to stay on this path, but they subvert it by easing back and bringing in a subtle passage that builds until they dial the heavy back in. It’s a stunning piece from them, and from a playing perspective has so much going on, it would be a joy to play. Zodiac Shit sees them change direction once more, with a track that could be used on any latter-day western (spaghetti or otherwise). That excellent lead work is back on here, fully emotive, expressing so much in so little time as we head for the finish line. Bagbak, I think could only be described as space-rock and sets us up for their final statement, which is the magnificent Waltz, alone. As Zodiac Shit had hints of the frontier, this has a gentle opening that is sublime that brings images of a homestead set within a prairie with not a soul within one hundred miles. For me, this is the hallmark of what instrumental music should be achieving. It should take you on a journey and Waltz, alone does that. And in doing so closes out the album on an incredible high. 

After the seemingly interminable AOTY lists that dominated December (and I am as guilty of it as anyone), talking about it this early in the year feels criminal. And yet, it will be interesting to see where this lands come December 2025. It’s an album that is filled to the brim with quality music, and surely that is all we want?

  1. Gleam of the Goddess
  2. Trigger
  3. Letting Go (softly)
  4. Letting Go (hardly)
  5. Catfight
  6. Golden Shower
  7. Ballade Four
  8. Dear Hollow
  9. TORO
  10. Triskaidekaphobie
  11. Zodiac Shit
  12. Bagbak
  13. Waltz, alone

5 out of 5 stars (5 / 5)

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