Brian Borcherdt

Brian Borcherdt
Coyotes
(Hand Drawn Dracula)
If you think about Holy Fuck and Brian Borcherdt's solo work, they really aren't that far apart. Sure, on the surface there's a sonic discrepancy: propulsive rhythms and chest-exploding synth/bass/drum attack vs. whispered vocals and softly strummed guitar chords. But look beyond volume settings and BPMs, and underneath it all there's a wonderful organic symmetry and universality defining both projects. Both are to be experienced in highly personal ways---whether it's dancing elbow-to-elbow in a sweaty club or lying quietly on the floor of your room with headphones on. Eyes closed. Feeling the music enter the body and mind, and succumbing to the images it provokes. This is where Coyotes(like the first two Remains of albums) reigns, with Borcherdt's abstract poetic musings creating suspended dream states, where spirits disturb the soul, keeping it restless and searching. Images like "dirty knives to cut their wrists" (from "Scout Leader") or "Late at night in my dreams/I hear the cry of little things" (from "Coyotes") are frighteningly exquisite. He taps into feelings of dread, sorrow and escapism that we all experience. Nowhere is this better expressed than in "Means of Escape" where Borcherdt sighs, "I can hold my breath/I can float away/ simply close my eyes and drift...away."
---Dave Hayden
categories: Coast pick,Canadian artist