Overflow Variations by Exquisite Russian Brides

For his 10th full length record as Exquisite Russian Brides, Marc Kellaway presents a double LP of dubbed out soundscapes build from old tapes, analog synthesizers and drum machines - all cyclical bass figures and sequenced melodies obscured by drifting clouds of harmonic texture and hissy field-recordings.

Along with being active on the Copenhagen based underground scene for around 20 years in a series of bands ranging from the psychedelic noise rock of Distortion Girls to the queer pop duo Boy On Boy, Marc Kellaway has since 2003 quietly released a string of experimental albums under the name of Exquisite Russian Brides, sometimes working alone, sometimes drawing on a pool of likeminded collaborators.

While the focus on drones - whether electric or acoustic, noise based or harmonic - has been central to the project from the outset, a shift has gradually occurred over time toward a more reflective, even meditative approach, drawing on Marc's more ambient work in sound design for various stage and dance performances. As both a logical conclusion and a new beginning for the project, this shift reaches its apex on Overflow Variations with its series of gently hypnotic long-form pieces somewhere between ambient krautrock, soft noise drones and minimal dub techno.

Bookended by the swaying dub and tape-delayed beats of the side-long Variation #1, where manipulated field-recordings melt into waves of abstracted piano, and the more driving Variation #2, descending gradually from its almost dance-like beginning into the murky, lightly industrial waters of its second half, we get everything from looping half-melodies drowning in soft noise to ambient pads slowly disintegrating into the sound of rain over a web of echo-drenched soft beats.

Reminiscent of everything from the decaying harmonic fields of William Basinski and the harmonic overload William Voigts GAS to the alien melodies of Jon Hassel and the endless repetitions of Steve Hitches Variant-project, but somehow softer, more hazy and entirely its own sound world, Overflow Variation is a friendly place for bass grounded reflection and solitude.

Exquisite Russian Brides was Marc Kellaway's main experimental project from 2003 to 2020 specialising in massive fields of acoustic/electric drones - whether soft spaces produced by cello and accordion, more insistent beat-driven creations, field-recordings and tape cut-ups, free form synth impro or minimal music for meditation.

Since 2020 the journey continues as The Exquisite Test Center.

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