The Body

The Body are a two-piece experimental sludge band from Portland, OR. Following their wonderful, disarmingly strange All The Waters of Earth Turn To Blood in 2012 and their split with Braveyoung last year, At A Loss reissue their self-titled debut. The Body has been fully remixed and remastered at Machines with Magnets studios in Pawtucket, RI, where all the rest of their material was recorded and produced. It's less dense and sophisticated than their later work, which employs layered vocal choirs, eerie and expertly deployed samples, and even industrial elements. Here, there's more of the raw, unrefined ore of the Body, the throbbing, organic drumming, the dirge-like pacing. One of the best things about this record, and something the reissue's updated production does an excellent job of bringing to the forefront, is just how extraordinary the vocals are. Singer Chip King has a voice that's genuinely frightening, and in its weird anguish, at times, seems like something that can't possibly be human. While the genre-defying compositional excellence is still nascent here, there are moments of transcendence, like the twisted, tortured construction of "The Mother and Tomb of All Things," which hints at what they will eventually be capable of. A startling, promising, upsetting debut, this record deserved a re-release now that the Body have come into their own.