Released on:
Lifeforms
Runtime: 5:13
If there’s one recurring criticism I have of FSOL, it’s their choice of album closers. Not that every album should follow a strict structure, but I always feel that an album should end on a suitably memorable track, something that sticks in the memory, be it ending on a bang, or a slow, drawn out fade away. FSOL’s ’90s albums don’t really do this. Indeed, ‘Little Brother’ isn’t entirely unlike ‘Central Industrial‘ and ‘Pod Room‘ in being uncharacteristically repetitive and rhythm-led. Oh well, you can’t have everything.
The track opens with night time insects, suggesting the album closing after sunset. On top of layers of percussion – there’s all sorts in there – is a recurring doom-laden chord. Lifeforms doesn’t end on a high, but an unsettlingly dark note. Just when you’ve forgotten about it, the chord comes back in, cutting through the track and chilling the listener. The number of samples that appear in the track is remarkable, with a huge amount of weird noises, animal sounds, squelches, bursts of guitar feedback, even a wobbly synth sound dating back to the ’80s, originally recorded as Zeebox track ‘7000 Years’. It’s dense and continually engaging.
As the percussion fades into reverb, a short environment appears, led by flute. This section was used regularly in the Kiss FM Transmissions and 3D Headspace Tour, as part of a longer environment which would eventually become part of ‘Tired’ on ISDN. It’s a particularly surreal section, and ends the album on a really strange note. I’ve mentioned before how utterly bizarre that last sound is, a note that seems to be comprised of bells and water. It was heard earlier on ‘Life Form Ends‘ and would, of course, feature too in ‘Tired’. As for the title, “all the studio work and fast food resulted in Yage’s little brother being born”. Turns out sitting around in the studio eating crap makes you fat. The main track itself would first appear on the 1994 Essential Mix with Robert Fripp.
If I was making Lifeforms – and that’s already a bold and ultimately stupid line of thinking, but here we go – I would put ‘Among Myselves‘ at the end. Not only is it the only track on disc 1 that feels like it would fit with the second disc’s more lively, organic feel, but its ending, reprising ‘Cascade‘, would round out the album brilliantly.
Credits
Written and produced by FSOL.
Written by Dougans/Cobain.
Engineered by Yage.
Recorded at EarthBeat Studios – London.
Fractional Difference 