The combination of
Chris Eckman's lovely rasp of a voice and
the Bambi Molesters' surf-garage jones had first surfaced when the band backed
Eckman on a track of his Black Field album in 2003, but it's their full collaboration as
the Strange that gave them a chance to demonstrate what they could do in full.
Nights of Forgotten Films, consisting of nine originals and two covers -- the first of those being an absolutely inspired version of
Echo & the Bunnymen's "Villiers Terrace," transforming the unsettled psychosis of the original into a wired thrash with a killer intro -- is a joy to listen to. Starting with the title track, both the performances and the production -- overseen by
Eckman and regular collaborator Phill Brown -- stand to the fore, the surf-
Morricone twang of the band refracted just a touch through
Eckman's moody Americana-into-Europe visions. Hearing
the Molesters work as a backing band rather than fully standing to the fore makes for enjoyable listening -- since everything has to be a bit subordinate to
Eckman's singing, the quartet fills out the sound around him, more restrained than usual but all the more sharply effective for it. Check out the ominous growl of the guitars on "Tonight, I Will Say Anything" (particularly an amazing tremolo solo) or the brooding bass rumble heralding album centerpiece "Comin' Undone." At many times, the combination sounds like what an alternate soundtrack to Sin City might have been, laden with threat and drama, but songs like "River of Twilight" and "These Lies" cast a gentler, more wistful air, at least musically.
Eckman contributes acoustic guitar and piano but otherwise is content to let
Molesters guitarists Dalibor Pavicic and Dinko Tomljanovic work the fretboards with their expected grace and power. In a nice touch, bassist Lada Zaborac adds vocals to "Gone Missing" with
Eckman, creating a hint of
Lee &
Nancy tension on top of an already tense track. ~ Ned Raggett