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THE WIRE on MOTOR GHOST

Motor Ghost are the duo of Alex Neilson and Ben Reynolds, two key players in the British underground who have followed in the footsteps of the likes of Richard Youngs and Phil Todd with their polyglot approach to song and improvisation. Indeed, Neilson has been working with Youngs in the past few years, both in a duo and as part of Jandek's live trio, while some of Reynold's earliest discs were released on Todd's Memoirs of an Aesthete imprint.
Motor Ghost are made of combustible stuff, and most of A Gold Chain Round Her Breast is high energy, with Reynolds exploring the fieriest ends of his electric guitar while Neilson stretches his kit into elastic shapes. "Golden Promise", the set's highlight, has Reynolds chunking thick, heavy chords out of a distressed amp, as Neilson skims across the surface with bustling, restless limbs. Outside these brutish performances, the duo are also capable of moments of rumination. The acoustic guitar lament of "My Dancing Day", enlivened by Neilson's lithe playing, stretches into melancholy territory as it pivots around a few light handed chords. "Hated Illumination" is enlivened by the duo's use of the dümuk, a Greek horn whose trilling figures corkscrew around their fingers, especially when Reynolds shadows it with globular electronics.
The closing traditional a cappella melody "Leaves of Life" is performed by Neilson, who has a fine, high, slightly faltering voice, gentle and ghostly. There's more evidence of it on a solo a cappella 3" CD-R of traditional songs that comes free with initial copies of the album.
That the album allows such a gesture underlines the duo's ability to balance the blistering with the reflective; even at their most fired up, where things could skid out of control, there's strong entente cordiale on display.