BackBack

Dust, darkness, headlights. Motion in the nothingness, the wasteland. Like a single, lost particle, the first track roams through this black night. Exposition. We discover. We see how form and shape come into being, how a construct creates itself: A civilization, buildings, people, interaction. Paths intersect and the tension bursts. The sharp baritone saxophone (Marc De Maeseneer) cuts through the air, drilling into ones ear. The conflict is physically tangible and we see that something big is being drawn here. Protagonist vs. antagonist. That classic issue. That eternal friction. Here with BackBack. They take us, grasp us, throw us into the middle of the conflict. Songs without words. Fine storytelling with great awareness of the material and techniques and of space. Endless space, like in a desert – in which this story may play. Every note or chord the guitar (Filip Wauters) is playing gives us the feeling of small particles of sand hitting our eyes, soft pain, the sun is burning; We are right there, right in the middle of it – we sense the tension. Even the three musicians can not escape it.

We may find one retarding piece of music. There seems a way out – hope – but as endless and wide as the desert, the prospect of escape is just so little. It draws us in like a maelstrom. We even do not want to escape. We are yearning for the resolution desperately. The drums (Giovanni Barcella) urging, further even further, brute. What is left in the end? Salvation or damnation? Back Back tells this story to the end. But what remains is a cut, a scar and the certainty that a new story will tee off. Again from the beginning, an endless loop. So again we press play and we start spinning once more. Salvation or damnation? - Noah Zackl