Scott Walker’s Bish Bosch is strange, no doubt about it. He’s a strange fellow though. Walker had a traditional rise to fame in the sixties with his flowy hair and baritone voice. He crooned over songs like an angel. Then he took a bit of a tumble through the late seventies and eighties trying to spark again what once was. Failing and only grasping at straws, he turned to a completely new style of music in the nineties and what one can only describe as raw artist expression.
Bish Bosch came as a finale to a trilogy consisting of ‘Tilt’ and ‘The Drift’. All having ominous names, compared to his most successful albums just being self titled followed by an ordered number (Scott 1, 2, 3, and 4), one can only go into these projects already feeling eerie. To the previous point, they all have creepy album covers too, featuring distorted images in what seem like prisms or text dripping down as though it were painted with tears rather than paint. Specifically this review is about Bish Bosch though. Personally, out of the three, it’s easily my favorite.
In terms of lyrics, a good portion of the album is spent detailing the story of a jester turning into a dwarf star (all in one song, said song is 20 minutes). The tale is based around a very old story about a jester named Zerco, Zercon, or Zerkon (the name is mentioned in different ways) from fifth century Constantinople. Many have broken down the lyrics and explained each and every line in great detail when compared to the original story. Personally, I find it interesting historically but musically it’s not given a lot of context. The lyrics are about humiliation, dark humor, and how people treat people. It’s sickening with lyrics like ‘When you wear a yellow rain coat, people scream, ‘taxi!’” With the production side, the layering of the strings about half way through are so well done and timed, it makes the story flow so well. By doing so, it creates the traditional elements of story telling like a climax and plot.
Beyond lyrics I would say the two elements of production and instrumentation I find truly perfect are the drums and, as mentioned before, the strings. Specifically the more orchestral strings, not so much the metal guitar rifts. On ‘Corps De Blah’ you hear the most jaw dropping execution of these strings get slammed against your ears like a hammer and nail. Speaking of tools, the first track actually features some really interesting drums that match the sound of a drill going into the ground with a constant loop throughout the whole song. It’s quite interesting, and provides some strange contrast to the repeating lyrics “While plucking feathers from a swan song”. I’d presume the pounding of the drums is the said plucking from something innocent, such as a swan song.
Mentioning drums, the song ‘Pilgrim’ is probably the most interesting in how it’s textured. The song features repeating lyrics and drums being slowly tapped and rolled over, barely even being played, very different from the precise hits of the previous song I mentioned. Yet you can never escape his baritone voice. It almost like the anchor keeping you down so these sounds don’t let you float awa
This album leaves a lot of interpretation to the listener, it is what you make of it. Don’t try to over analyze it and give these songs a deeper meaning than what’s there. Sometimes it’s as simple as what’s presented or as much as you connect with it. Walker has a lot of niche and obscure influences so when listening for the first time a lot of the tales and excerpts are out of context. Therefore I don’t believe he intended or wanted somebody listening to have the ability to search and find exactly what he’s talking about, instead just letting his perspective wash over you.
Sound Check Chuck 