James Krivchenia – Performing Belief – clashmusic.com

If you’d told me in 2017 that the drummer from Big Thief was going to release an album that plays with future bass, African rhythms, wonky electronica and tender melancholy on Planet Mu, I probably wouldn’t have believed you. Well, here we are, less than a decade later, and that’s exactly what James Krivchenia has done on his fourth album.
The opening track kind of lives up to its name. ‘Undesigned’ feels like something that is just happening, rather than something that was planned in detail. Beats, and rhythms, are all over the shop. On a first listen you aren’t sure what to focus on. And this is the point. Krivchenia is bombarding us with sounds. Some work. Some don’t. Some contrast. Other don’t. But this is the point. Throwing everything at us, at rapid speed, is breath taking.
After the opening salvo of ‘Unhinged’ Krivchenia gives us ‘Judge the Seeds’. This is a slower, tender number. It’s placing in the track list is spot on. After the frenetic opening I wondered if Krivchenia could keep the pace up, and what we’d be like at the end. Instead, he slows everything down and allows us to catch our breath. What makes ‘Judge the Seeds’ a delight isn’t the change in pace, though it is welcome, but the fact he’s added musician’s electric bassist Sam Wilkes and double bassist Joshua Abrams. This gives the song, and the rest of the album, some added low-end muscle. On ‘Sympathetic Magic’ the bass is subtle, but it’s there. Throbbing away in the background.
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Final track ‘Metaphoric Leakage’ feels like an updated take on the 1996 album ‘Expert Knob Twiddlers’ by Richard. D James and Mike Paradinas (Planet Mu’s boss). It’s playful, weird, catchy and very, very listenable. After the rapid assault to the senses here Krivchenia delivers something understated and wonderfully wonky. 
‘Performing Belief’ is a wild ride. Even on ‘slower’ songs like ‘Probably Wizards’ it’s in your face and pulsating. This is an album to play while everyone is out LOUD, or in your car when the sun is out. It’s screaming leisure time. If Krivchenia is lucky this will be the album blaring out of every boyed up car waiting at the traffic lights all summer. It deserves to be played by someone who has invested a lot of time, and effort, in a good sound system and wants the world to hear how good it is. It also works incredibly well on headphones.
In a nutshell ‘Performing Belief’ is a glorious album that gets better and better with repeat listens. It’s full of captivating melodies, wonky rhythms and some killer basslines. 
8/10
Words: Nick Roseblade
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