Keiji Haino + Sumac - American Dollar Bill: Keep Facing Sideways, You’re Too Hideous to Look at Face On

A collaboration much like many of the past metal/noise collaborations over the past few years (Sunn O))) & Boris, Full of Hell & Merzbow), the experienced post-metal/sludge pioneers, Sumac, add their sound like an ingredient to the noisy mix Keiji Haino cultivates. However, while many of the two-act collaborations like the ones I mentioned previously usually crank out albums that sound like an unthoroughly blended stir of either artist’s B-game material, Sumac and Keiji Haino play off one another in a more conscious manner, Sumac particularly making a respectable and mostly successful effort to play more subdued in some moments to accent what Haino is doing. Some other collaborative projects (the latest Full of Hell & The Body release comes to mind) sound like either act is using the album to plug their sound on top of another artist’s work. Rather than using the opportunity of the album to advertise the heaviness of their sound, Sumac seem to actually be playing behind Haino and expanding whatever mad, experimental noise results. Likewise, Haino isn’t just babbling over Sumac’s moments in the sun. The album does, though, suggest some high degree of improvisation across its five tracks, but in that improvisation it reveals a great deal of chemistry the two artists have together, knowing well which aspects of their respective sounds in what measures pair well with the other’s. In playing in a more experimental and less overtly sludgy context, Sumac do sound significantly more subdued, but they don’t neglect to bring strong ideas to the table on all of these tracks. In fact, there are a number of musical moments on the album that I almost wish were expanded on in more conventional ways to allow them to grow on their own. It’s a long, but thoroughly intriguing listen and one that both artists can be proud of (as well as thankful to the other).