Bish Bosch4 AD *****

The title of Scott Walker’s new album alludes playfully to both the nonsense poetry of Edward Lear and the apocalyptic paintings of Hieronymus Bosch, describing the exuberant experimentation of his fourth solo album in four decades. The final part of a loose trilogy of Tilt (1996) and The Drift (2006), it’s also the best of the maverick singer-songwriter’s solo career, achieving his most successful mishmash of words and music in a stream-of-consciousness collage, equal parts sound poem and art music.

Walker's protean and layered songs combine acoustic instrumentation, dissonant electronica and found sounds (clashing machetes, wailing shofar, tumbling marbles) with fragmented melodies and elliptical locutions, all held in exquisite dynamic tension by his signature dramatic croon. Bish Bosch is jarring and lyrical, at once beautiful and uncompromising. 4ad.com

Download:SDSS1416+13B (Zercon, A Flagpole Sitter)