Boduf Songs – Burnt Up on Re-Entry

Mat Sweet’s first Boduf Songs LP for Southern – following four on Kranky – marks an appropriate shift in direction. Where the earlier records explored the hinterlands of bleak, stripped-down folk, rarely featuring more than Sweet’s delicately-plucked guitar and deep, soft vocals, Burnt Up on Re-Entry announces a new urgency and density from the outset.

Fiery the Angels Fell begins proceedings with brooding, Slint-style fretwork and insistently scattershot percussion, before descending into a frenzied climax of QOTSA-esque bruising distortion. Elsewhere, more familiar tempos return - as on the organ-driven, gothic soundscape of Song to Keep Me Still - but Sweet’s new taste for embellishment remains evident.

Burnt Up, then, is a surprisingly diverse record from an artist previously known for his asceticism and focus. As such, it sometimes lacks the intensity of previous Boduf Songs outings; but in the breadth of its imaginative vision, it represents a welcome expansion of Sweet’s songwriting approach.