LIFE in a mental asylum in 19th-century Paris is hardly a typical topic for a hip-hop group to address.
However, on their new album, The Waltz of Modern Psychiatry, Hector Bizerk do just that.
Although written as a soundtrack to Nicola McCartney’s stage play Crazy Jane, the album more than stands on its own.
From the opening track, instrumental Overture for Jane, a tone is set which is as intriguing as it is powerful. Despite straying far from the ground they captured on their 2014 album, Nobody Seen Nothing, the Glasgow outfit adapt to their new surroundings with ease.
They experiment with different musical styles but it is clear that frontman Louie has lost none of his lyrical prowess and hard-hitting style.
Throughout the album he touches upon many mental health stigmas which continue to affect many people.
“Mascara scars in the ivory tower/Her delicate eyes are like flowers/They survive through the showers,” he raps in the opening lines of the title track.
Louie explores the lives of several different characters, ranging from the deranged to the quieter, more contemplative musings of their very different minds. In the sneering chorus of Dr Charcot you could almost mistake Louie for Dale Barclay of the late Amazing Snake-heads, as his vocals send a chill down the spine.
Taken as a whole, the album is possibly Hector Bizerk’s finest body of work, as well as being a jewel in the crown of the Scottish hip hop scene.
With the music industry becoming ever more single orientated, it is a joy to find an album put together quite as well as this one.
The sheer boldness of Modern Waltz will certainly give this ambitious project a powerful edge.
Hector Bizerk launch The Waltz of Modern Psychiatry at Glasgow’s King Tuts on
June 6.
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