Samuel Claiborne

Rosendale based multi-instrumentalist musician Samuel Claiborne links up with the irrepressible Tomas Doncker - who, along with Claiborne, dazzled New York’s ‘No Wave’ scene in the 80s – and a host of other respectable musicians to churn out his anti-establishmentarian music-festo, ‘Love, Lust and Genocide’ – a nine-track soundboard of esoteric meditations about the ethereal and the taboo.

Claiborne is a poet first, and then he’s a singer with a deadpan timbre, stimulating freethinkers with bold personal interpretations on eroticism, spirituality and politics. But then again, when you’re delivering a message that is so profoundly thought-provoking, the sweetness of tone becomes little more than an afterthought whilst you’re dedicate your mind to appreciate his mystifying musings.

But the album is more than that – it’s also dedicated musical enlightenment too. ‘Love, Lust and Genocide’ is an electro-acoustic experiment gone enthralling right. Songs and sounds collide the vectors of grunge, alternative rock and orchestral to create something gamey and cosmopolitan.

There’s a constant variation of instrumentation, compositional structure and tempo that means that no two songs are exactly alike. From the digital to the acoustic; or classic rock to Eastern influenced genres; or song to poetry, ‘Love, Lust and Genocide’ is an incredibly eclectic album that swings and stirs in equal measure.

‘Say Goodbye to America’ is a blend of RHCP and a Bill Conti score with its triumphant trumpeting. The ambient ‘Succulence’ and ‘21st Century War’ take us into world beat territory with tabla drums, swooning syntheses and slinking basslines, whilst songs like ‘Lion and the lamb’ and ‘Unbound’ hark back to 90s indie rock and folk.

Believe it or not, Claiborne owes debt to his former status as a quadriplegic where he made a remarkable recovery physically and, judging by this latest work, mentally, creatively and professionally too. ‘Love, Lust and Genocide’ pushes the boundaries in an unintimidating way.