Dredging through long-forgotten moments in Australian history, ‘Will Ever Pray’ is a concept album of sorts that steers a course through turbulent and harrowing events of the past. And so it is that The Doomed Bird of Providence leads the listener on a journey through dark times and riven with troubles and traumas, death and destruction, beginning with ‘On a Moonlight, Ragged Sea’, a dolorous sea-shanty drawled and slurred by a drunken pirate growling about ‘the embers of misery’ as violins scrape like creaking ropes across a worn mast.
Maggots, decay and devourment are amongst the images that wash through ‘The Wild Beast of Goat Island’, while ‘On The Deathbed of Janus Weathercock’ maintains the funeral pace, being a slow, sparse and pained soundtrack to a demise that fittingly flutters out like a failing of a frail heart.
‘The Massacre of the Whole of the Passengers and Part of the Crew of The Sea Horse on Her Homeward Passage from Sydney’ – which takes its title from a book printed circa 1860 which recounts the very event – occupies the second half of the album. It’s a monstrous piece set in five parts. The first stretches out, ocean-like, for over ten minutes, and pitches and yawns with scrapes and drones that eventually give way to a slow, march-like passage with accordion and timpani. Parts 2 and 3 are more shanty-like, the grizzled vocals providing a narrative that recounts a swashbuckling sea-battle. There’s no celebratory yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum, though: nothing but bloodshed and carnage and watery graves and a sweeping expanse of post-rock orchestration.
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For those looking for music that offer light relief, I would suggest steering clear of this album. However, if you’re on a quest for grainy folk adventure with a harrowing, gritty narrative, ‘Will Ever Pray’ will provide it.
The Doomed Bird of Providence on MySpace
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