Brute Heart's astounding second album exemplifies what's exciting in our local experimental music scene. Trio Crystal Myslajek, Crystal Brinkman, and Jackie Beckey's intricate, darkly mysterious, and unearthly sonic territories delight the mind and heart.
Brinkman's pulsing primal percussion and tambourines create hypnotic rhythms, as Beckey's viola intertwines sonorous melodies with her signature plucked strings and jagged percussive strokes. Myslajek's strong, ethereal alto vocals, at times evocative of the psychedelic vocals of Grace Slick, are accentuated by Beckey's ethereal howls, oohs, and ahs floating and echoing throughout. They've added Beckey's skill on keys and Jonathan Kaiser on cello to a few songs to great effect. The trio's propulsive yet haunting mystical incantations appear to call forth a tempest of elemental forces—earth, sea, sky, fire, and stone—sublimely and tumultuously dancing together. The songs span worlds of ancient and future music, creating new territories in both the mind and music world. [Cyn Collins, City Pages]
