Marching Church, the brainchild of Iceage vocalist Elias Bender Rønnenfelt turned full band, have followed up their debut album This World Is Not Enough with Coming Down: Sessions in April, an EP of more loosely structured fare.
The first track of two is shorter and moves sluggishly, with the only distinct sound being the funereal thudding of a drum. Rønnenfelt’s voice slowly makes its way into the mix, and he gives a dirge-like performance; when he groans, “l feel I’m coming down,” he sounds determined to drag us all down with him.
The better of the two tracks is the 21-minute “Coming Down, Part 2,” something of a post-rock mini-epic that features no vocals at all. Here, a multitude of instruments play repeated…
…passages that are interwoven and laid out in a series of progressions. It starts out with a slinky sense of mystery, but this eventually gives way to more mournful overtones. Cello plays a dominant role, but is joined throughout by jazz-tinged piano, distorted guitar and a percussive beat that ebbs and flows.
Overall, Coming Down: Sessions in April is a journey that takes us nowhere. The musical arrangement is impressive on a cerebral level, but if the listener is supposed to feel anything other than an pervasive, almost stultifying sense of gloom, then that message is lost in the morose sludge.