Blackmouth is a collaborative project by Jarboe, John
Bergin of Trust Obey and Brett Smith of Caul.
Released in 2000, their self-titled debut album explored a
variety of genres along the continuum of dark ambient,
industrial, Goth, black metal and trip-hop.
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TO FORGET TIME
Released December 2, 2019
Written, Performed, Mixed, and Produced by
Jarboe, John Bergin, and Brett Smith
Cover Artwork by
John Bergin (Low-poly masks by Ilya Palkhouski)
Mastered by
Robert Rich at Soundscape Studios, Mountain View, CA (tracks 1-2)
and John Bergin (tracks 3-4)
Published by
Jarboe Music ASCAP
Grinder Tool & Die BMI
Blackgnome ASCAP
The four-track EP, To Forget Time, released simultaneously with
the 25-track CD Blackmouth: Volumes I & II, contains the album
track of the same title, remixes of the debut album’s
“Seduce and Destroy” and the new release’s “My Struggle”
plus “Blue Ink Flows” which is exclusive to the EP.
Cascades of crackling atmospherics on the title track introduce a metronome, while
at intervals, burbling and wailing synths leap up from the buzzing electronic
currents. Jarboe’s ever impressive delivery comprises a recital, spectral choirs and
delicate snippets of song that slip through stabbing keyboards, edgy snares and
high energy guitar bursts.
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The pulsating beat of a metronome also features on her 2002 album Dissected – A
Collection of Remixes, particularly on Burnt Media’s “Gun (Mosquito)” which brings to
mind Giorgio Moroder’s hypnotic disco rhythms.
Track two, “My Struggle (Disordered Remix)” is a post-rock interpretation of album
track five, one of the 11 new numbers on the aforementioned Volumes I & II.
Fluttering percussion and another metronomic beat introduce the recital of a poem
accompanied by symphonic synths and distant angelic voices, occasionally joined by
infusions of churning guitars.
3
This rogue metronome keeps morphing into a looser drum pattern and then slowly
reverting to regular pulses while the song navigates several intriguing tempo and
tonal shifts that reflect the narrative about a privileged misogynist who fancies
himself a ‘rebel’.
4
The EP’s most experimental composition, “Blue Ink Flows Through” is of a darker
hue, linking thematically to the tracks “Black Pulse Grain”, “Converted”, and
“Conversion” (the Silent, Relapse and Cruel versions). The weary drift of the music’s
murky ambiance is tormented by eerie processed vocals and ominous industrial
sound effects. Two modal shifts occur, the first when Jarboe’s unsettling sobbing fit
breaks out, and the second in a brief acoustic coda with a few strands of gentle
singing.
5
The weeping harks back to the second track on The Body Lovers’ 2000 album
Number One of Three, where a blend of chimes and accordion suddenly gives way
to Jarboe's sobbing which sounds harrowingly authentic.
6
The EP concludes with the industrially flavored “Seduce and Destroy Slowly”, a
brooding rendition of the raging rant from 2000. Amid the crashes and plodding
beats, a scattering of voices anticipates the outburst which proves to be less strident
here, while solemn chords and wailing synths lend the recital and its ultimate
repeated mantra a funereal, even bluesy feel in place of the original’s seething rage.
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Nineteen years later – judging by these four tracks – Jarboe, Bergin and Smith have
added significant depth to the dimensions of their blackmouthian aesthetic, a vision
that has stood the test of time so well.
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LINKS
Bandcamp
https://jarboeberginsmith.bandcamp.com/album/blackmouth-to-forget-time-
2?fbclid=IwAR0mlAU2A1p-72ZRSQP71vXXbif4tPJvtOdrrlhAKIRyg86gFfu0FeRcP3M
Allmusic
www.allmusic.com/album/blackmouth-mw0000979794
Amazon
www.amazon.com/Blackmouth-Explicit-
BlackMouth/dp/B00X0UGGIC/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?keywords=blackmouth+jarboe&qid=1575062048&s=dmusic&sr=1-1-fkmr0
Discogs
www.discogs.com/Blackmouth-Blackmouth/master/119165
www.discogs.com/lists/JARBOE%E2%80%99S%20COLLABORATIVE%20CLASSICS/462411
The Living Jarboe
www.thelivingjarboe.com/shop/bandcamp/blackmouth-volumes-l-ll/
www.thelivingjarboe.com/lyrics/blackmouth/
Rate Your Music
https://rateyourmusic.com/list/Joburgpete/best-of-jarboe-beautiful-people-ltd-and-blackmouth/
Scribd
www.scribd.com/document/394486095/Jarboe-TOP-20
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GALLERY
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