To Kill A Petty Bourgeoisie - Marlone

 To Kill A Petty Bourgeoisie - Marlone [Kranky Records]

Project To Kill a Petty Bourgeoisie is a duo consisting of vocalist Jehna Wilhelm (also plays guitar), and Mark McGee makes all the work with electronics and manipulations with sound. These manipulations mostly form the dark, moire sounding of the team (rather dirty, dull, viscous sound) is nothing else but laborious processing, breaking and mixing of sound masses making in the result something like a waterfall of apocalyptical post-rock, folktronica and noise.

Marlone plays out like a fine black-and-white noir — a sound To Kill a Petty Bourgeoisie has successfully cultivated and perfected over the course of four years. Theirs is a blend of industrial revolution and Mike Hammer fantasies, with McGee’s electronic manipulations sending out smoky melodies narrated by Wilhelm. It’s strange, sexy, and scary beckoning us to pull up a stool and throw back a shot of bourbon as the cat and mouse unfolds between criminals and cops, lovers and fighters.

“You’ve Gone Too Far” is the entrance of our damsel, the melody mimicking her calm and collected synchronized hip-swivel as the swing of the melody slowly gives way to the clanks and clatter of multiple neuroses. “Villain” drapes the dubious detective in its rich tapestry with the arrogant filth of Pulp’s “This is Hardcore.” It’s another sexy melody from the mind of McGee, who blankets Wilhelm’s sultry whisper with equally subtle waves of drone.

As with any good story, the duo slowly immerse the listener into the tale while also keeping them at a distance... you’ll fall in love with the characters and its movements, but you’ll remain disconnected from the drama to maintain perspective. Marlone is one tantalizing tease after another, a constant rush of hormones that will only make the inevitable explosions (like “I Will Hang My Cape in Your Closet”) that much more pleasing. When the imagery of noir is intertwined with the world of sex, it’s no wonder Marlone is a world of billowing cigarette smoke, conniving vixens, and dog-eared sleuths, complete with the we’ll-always-have-Paris torch song, “Bridgework,” conjuring the locked-in smells of perfume and tobacco.

Each track of Marlone develops as if a chapter, the song titles acting as directors of what's to come. Rather than trampling through noised-out big band jazz that often cleans up the messy crime dramas and twisted love affairs of irrational old Hollywood, they tap into the seedy underbelly of noir. It’s a closet full of Don Draper’s dirty secrets, not the star-crossed hellos and goodbyes of Rick Blaine and Ilsa Lund — though, you’ll find yourself murmuring ‘Play it again, Sam’ as To Kill a Petty Bourgeoisie continuously break your heart.

8.1/10