She Talks To Angels feat. John Fryer and Anjela Piccard – Black Needle Noise (reviewed by Dave Franklin)

I’m not sure how I feel about this. But that has to be a good thing, right? Music should confuse rather than conform… shouldn’t it? And the coming together of such a well-respected producer and artist and such an iconic song is going to blip on a lot of people’s radars. But anyone expecting a straight cover of The Black Crowes 1990 rock ’n’ soul classic is in for a shock, but if you are not precious about such things, it’s a very pleasant one at that.

The riff seems to rise up out of subterranean, industrial rumbles and half-heard ricochets or perhaps the idle sonic musings of factory computers or the impromptu jam of car plant robots. It’s safe to say that we are in wholly new territory here. But once you get your ear tuned and if you are prepared to leave the past behind, then you realise that this slightly demented, Bauhausian take on that sonic sermon is glorious.

Anjela Piccard’s vocals provide some much needed human qualities to balance the “hot metal and methedrine” which gives the music its alien textures, if you get the reference and John Fryer’s musical machinations are as expansive, unexpected, imaginative and otherworldly as ever.

If the machines do eventually rise up and take over the world, at least it sounds like they have good taste in music. Next time you are at an ATM machine listen closely, you might just be able to hear the internal hum of algorithms and circuit boards composing their own dark wave albums and if you are lucky, giving this song a run through for fun.

I’m still not sure how I feel about this though!