Review by Rick Eaglestone for MPM
There are some bands that manages to balance their overall breathtaking experience and translate to both the studio and in a live setting, but Conjurer manage this effortlessly and now they return with a new album (Just in time for me seeing them at this year’s Damnation) with Unself – A more personal voyage of discovery unfurling for vocalist/guitarist Dani Nightingale.
Diagnosed with autism at age 31, their long-held view of self, and perception of their place in the world began to unravel.
Unself documents much of the piecing back together around the diagnosis, alongside the realisation they were non-binary.
The album opens with the acoustic flowing and reflective title track Unself but contained in that is lingering sense of aggression that presents itself at the very end really setting the tone for the rest of the album which you are fully invested in by the time All Apart Concludes.
There Is No Warmth stands as one of the album’s most harrowing moments. The track is driven forward by different instruments taking the lead through various passages, creating a darkly hypnotic atmosphere which leads into the blistering outpouring of The Searing Glow which is richly textured yet brutally sincere.
As the album moves into the A Plea and Let Us Live really gives the listener to appreciate the musical showcasing that is happening all around – really allowing moments of genuine beauty to seep through the cracks before the inevitable crushing return to heaviness. This combination in particular has been the one I have gone back to the most as I was immediately drawn to it from the moment, I first heard it – for me personally this hands down encapsulates everything I love in the band in under eight minutes collectively.
The albums lead single Hang Them In Your Head was the perfect introduction to what Unself offers. starting with methodical, calculated menace before erupting into classic Conjurer riffage. It’s a track that promises this will be one of the heaviest, most emotionally charged albums in the band’s catalogue which is some feat for sure, its placing within the albums structure is perfect as it shows the band delving headfirst into exploring these suffocating new societal parameters that they have been faced with since the last album and really the personal nature of this album cannot be understated.
Conjurer have really stripped back the excesses of previous outings to reveal their solid songwriting which has certainly allowed for more clarity and more dynamics to shine through. To their ears, the mood, the core of the lyrical content and the music are more aligned than ever before as penultimate track “Foreclosure” feeling like the albums most raw, aggressive, and simultaneously emotional outpouring from the band in recent memory.
The album ends very much as it stated concluding with an adaptation of a century old gospel song This World Is Not My Home is cleverly repurposed to explore the sense of not belonging, Bookending the collection of songs, it offers a glimpse into the vulnerability and openness of this new era of the band.
Conjurer comment: “Unself is a record that we have put everything of ourselves into, in a way that we didn’t think possible for this band. Hang Them… is only the beginning. Thank you all for your patience, we are happy to report that it will be worth the wait.”
Even before this release Conjurer were always one of my go to bands in times of reflection or personal struggles and now even more so Unself pulling me in varying directions I can’t wait to hear this new material in a live setting to give it another perspective which will make me enjoy the album all over again afterwards
Unself is a deeply personal outpouring that will resonate with everyone.
Unself Track Listing:
1 Unself
2 All Apart
3 There Is No Warmth
4 The Searing Glow
5 A Plea
6 Let Us Live
7 Hang Them In Your Head
8 Foreclosure
9 This World Is Not My Home
Line-up:
Dani Nightingale – Vocals / Guitar
Brady Deeprose – Vocals / Guitar
Conor Marshall – Bass
Noah See – Drums
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9/10
