Holy F**k founder goes folksy; Results are strong.
Dusted is known to his loved ones as Brian Borchedt. He’s normally to be found heading up long-standing Canadian electronica outfit Holy Fuck. However, Borchedt has dropped a solo, folksy, intimate, log cabin kind of record with ‘III’. It’s almost a cliché these days, to present one of these ‘off the grid’ collections, but what’s more important is whether the artist and the process have combined to make a good record.
Such a recording method does, as in this case, usually result in a quiet, almost ethereal sound. A little scratchy guitar, echoing vocal, gentle keys, distant percussion Borchedt pulls all of this off with aplomb, tied up around his Pecknold-esque, layered voice. The sounds of the room around him and the world outside whistles and rumbles gently in the background. The songs work in a to be expected softly focussed and melancholy vibe. Ideas born from years of long, long Canadian drives and recollections of musical fragment placed aside for safekeeping. Now those sketches have been filled out and sent out into the recorded world.
These disparate pieces are expertly blended together into a coherent whole, so it’s hard to suggest any of them as stand out tracks. ‘Clouds’ is a good starting point, although it’s the penultimate track. The song fades away into a dreamlike emptiness, with Borchedt’s falsetto finally breaking the slumber. All twelve cuts offer that heady mix of fractured beauty and wistful longing that prevails amongst the best of. alt-folk.
