The Quietus
“A masterpiece of ardent abjection”
★★★★★
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Diamanda Galás
Broken Gargoyles (LP)
LabelIntravenal Sound Operations
FormatLP
GenreExperimental
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Tip! Employing a vast array of advanced vocal and instrumental techniques, Broken Gargoyles is arguably Diamanda Galás' most intellectually, sonically and viscerally formidable work to date. The album finds the visionary artist deftly probing the weaving, warping transformation on the nervous systems of her post-traumatic soldiers and dying diseased. The album's first part, "Mutilatus," contains the Georg Heym poems "Das Fieberspital" and "Die Dämonen der Stadt," and concerns the suffering of the soldier in the trenches and during innumerable operations in the hospital. Composed in 2020 during the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, the first incarnation of Broken Gargoyles was played as a sound installation at the Kapellen Leprosarium (Leper's Sanctuary) in Hanover, Germany.
This sanctuary was built around 1250 and served as a quarantine for those who suffered from the plague and leprosy in the Middle Ages. The work was finalized in 2020 in collaboration with the artist and sound designer Daniel Neumann.
"Broken Gargoyles makes most contemporary black metal, edgelord power electronics or exploring-feminity-through-witchcraft-wailers (there are a lot of Fisher Price Diamandas around at the moment) sound like they’re auditioning for a role in a local production of an Andrew Lloyd Webber musical.“ The Quietus
Details
Cat. number: ISO007LP
Year: 2023
Release notes
Issued with a 12" 16-page booklet and a glossy black card inner sleeve, in a stickered resealable plastic sleeve. There are no track durations printed on this release. Das Fieberspital Side A 3:08 - 4:30, 6:35 - 9:20; Side B 15:50 - 17:21 Broken Gargoyles (Track 1) was first shown as a work in progress at the Friedman Gallery, New York City on July 23rd, 2020, and at The Kapellen Leprosarium, Hanover, Germany on July 17, 2021. The third installation was presented at Capela de S. Bento,…
Tracklist
| A | Mutilatus | 23:41 | |
| B | Abiectio | 17:21 |
Credits
- Diamanda Galás
- Artwork [Cover Composite], Design [Package], Concept By [Conceptualized By], Composed By, Performer [Performed By], Painting, Photography By [Original Cover Photograph], Photography By [P2, 5], Voice [All Voices Except Mutilatus, Das Fieberspital (6:37 - 7:25, 9:43 - 9:56)]
- Edward ODowd
- Artwork [Cover Composite], Design [Package]
- Ria Katz
- Booking [Installation] [Broken Gargoyles]
- Intravenal Sound Operations
- Concept By [Conceptualized By], Composed By, Performer [Performed By], Executive-Producer
- Anne Hilde Neset
- Executive-Producer
- nyMusikk
- Executive-Producer
- The Grotowski Institute
- Executive-Producer
- Robert Knoke
- Guest, Voice [Mutilatus, Das Fieberspital (6:37 - 7:25, 9:43 - 9:56)], Photography By [P14]
- Tami Miller
- Management [Intravenal Sound Operations Administrative Quarters]
- Heba Kadry
- Mastered By
- T.J. Troy
- Musician [Improvising] [Abiectio], Percussion [Jet Engine Cowling, Astro Disc, Thunder Sheet], Timpani
- Daniel Neumann
- Musician [Improvising] [Abiectio], Synthesizer [Vermona Modular], Sound Designer, Mixed By, Effects [Electronic Processing], Edited By
- Chris McIntyre
- Musician [Improvising] [Abiectio], Trombone
- Teagan Faran
- Musician [Improvising] [Abiectio], Violin, Viola
- Austin Young
- Photography By [Booklet Back Cover]
- Ernst Friedrich
- Photography By [Photographs From The Book Krieg Dem Kriege! (War Against War!)]
- Theatro Circo
- Presenter [Capela de S. Bento]
- Lisa Gottheil
- Public Relations [Press]
- ZOPF PR
- Public Relations [Press] [UK]
- Zoe Miller
- Public Relations [Press] [UK]
- Grandstand Media
- Public Relations [Press] [USA]
- Ben Moore
- Recorded By [Sound Recording]
- Willy Bopp
- Recorded By [Sound Recording]
- Kris Townes
- Recorded By [Sound Recording], Mixed By, Producer
- Dr. Julia Meier
- Text By [Die Kalte Blecherne Wüste Der Todesdämmerung: The Cold, Metal Desert Of The Twilight Of Death]
- Luca Zanchi
- Text By [Polyképhalos Nomos: A song Of Many Heads]
- Thomáš Jirsa
- Text By [Taken From Facing The Faceless: The Erased Face As A Figure: Aesthetic And Historical Experience]
- Antony Hasler
- Translated By [Das Fieberspital] [Die Dämonen Der Stadt] [Der Blinde] [Der Hunger]
- Georg Heym
- Written-By [Das Fieberspital] [Die Dämonen Der Stadt] [Der Blinde] [Der Hunger]
Read review
Flood Magazine
“Still a pillar of the avant-garde in 2022, Galás has neither mellowed or pulled back when it comes to rage on the two extended tracks that fill her latest LP”
★★★★★
Pitchfork
“Based upon early 1900s German poetry about sick patients and maimed soldiers, these two side-long tracks of experimental vocalizations highlight the singer’s conceptual, confrontational heft”
★★★★★
