The Switch

by 
AlbumJul 13 / 20185 songs, 38m 45s
Experimental Rock Noise Rock
Popular

Creative alchemy doesn’t just happen in the studio or in the practice space; so much of it is the product of solo time with one’s instrument, learning how body and wood and electronics fuse, and of subconscious processes as one lives one’s daily life—picking up the ambient noise of the world outside, listening to others’ work, talking through ideas with friends. For Kim Gordon and Bill Nace, time together these days is limited to live performances and recording, so they’ve got to bring all their magic to every encounter. Lucky for us, these are two experimental sorcerers of significant renown. Their debut album together as Body/Head, Coming Apart, from 2013, was more of a rock record—heavy, emotional, cathartic, spellwork in shades of black and grey. The Switch is their second studio full-length, and it finds the duo working with a more subtle palette, refining their ideas and identity. Some of it was sketched out live (if you’ve not had the fortune of seeing them in that natural environment yet, see 2016’s improvisational document No Waves), but much of it happened purely in the moment. Working in the same studio and with the same producer as Coming Apart, here Body/Head stretch out, making spacious pieces that build shivering drones, dissonant interplay, Gordon’s manipulated vocals, and scraping, haunting textures into something that feels both delicate and dangerous. Less discrete songs than one composition broken up into thematic movements, a slow-moving narrative that requires as much attention and care from the listener as it did from everyone involved in its creation, it is a record that sticks around after it’s done playing. This is Nace’s favorite of Gordon’s guitar work; she’s truly come into her own as a guitarist, having built up her confidence through solo shows. The way the duo work together, you’d never know they spend so much time apart; on The Switch, their vision and focus feel truly unified. If Coming Apart was dark magic, The Switch works with light, though it never forgets that these approaches are two sides of the same coin, and that binaries—black/white, near/far, emotion/analysis, body/head—are made to be broken open, and that the truth of things is in the energy between. -Jes Skolnik, May 2018

8.0 / 10

On their most purposeful record to date, Kim Gordon and Bill Nace conjure a complete sonic ecosystem where they control the weather.

Second album from the Sonic Youth co-founder's new duo is a fascinating journey into post-apocalyptic art-punk muck

Download: "Reverse Hard," "Last Time," and "In the Dark Room"

To record The Switch, Body/Head returned to Massachusetts' Sonelab Studios and reunited with producer Justin Pizzoferrato, the collaborator on their debut, Coming Apart.

8 / 10

The Body/Head dichotomy is a clear distinction from the Cartesian body/mind split — the mind, a separate, abstracted consciousness, versus t...

7.0 / 10

Body/Head began life as an improvisational live project, but soon ventured into recorded territory, eventually releasing their debut LP, Coming Apart, in 2013.

(Matador)

5 / 10

Forget the songs - Body/Head (Kim Gordon and Bill Nace) have gone straight for an album of oppressive breakdowns on 'The Switch'.

7 / 10

Upon its release, it was clear that Body/Head's album Coming Apart was a viscerally personal piece of work.

7.0 / 10

Body/Head create harsh but poignant art in our review of 'The Switch' but its accessibility is another question of its own.

Gordon and Nace’s second release has five tracks that ooze uneasiness like a weather report from a nuclear winter

85 %

One of the most original, exciting albums of the year so far.

7 / 10