Now Gods, Stand Up for Bastards

A Handful Of Dust’s recordings document real-time performance – the unadorned interaction of human, instrument, and amplification, captured by stereo recording. For the duo of Bruce Russell (also of The Dead C) on guitar and Alastair Galbraith on violin, the material on Now Gods, Stand Up For Bastards captures a responsiveness that moves beyond simple ‘call-and-response’ improvisation, and rather is about carving blocks of abraded tone through simple physical processes. The way they conduct feedback, or draw mangled noise from manipulated strings, can feel brutish, but there’s elegance to it, too. When Peter Stapleton joins on drums – here, on the fifteen-minute “The Expulsion Of The Triumphant Beast” – he acts both as a disruptive element, challenging Russell and Galbraith to respond to a new set of conditions, and as another force of energy within the group. It’s deeply human music.