Review Summary: Homotopy to Marie is a sinister, unrestricted and fluid album, reflective of the typical Nurse With Wound sound.
To call "Homotopy to Marie" something along the lines of 'outsider music' is to do a great disservice to Steven Stapleton's artistic output.
Nurse With Wound 's 1982 album is something far beyond being 'outsider music', rather it is an exercise in and demonstration of just how much twisting and corruption music can undertake and still remain musical.
The opening track, the lengthily titled "I Cannot Feel You As The Dogs Are Laughing And I Am Blind" is perhaps the most challenging on the album. We are taken through a dark composition of metal utensils rattling together, wailing and crying, and a consistent, droning hum. It would be tempting on a first listen to shut the track off at the thirty second mark - after all, who wants to listen to that for ten minutes? Yet, as you listen to this track again and again, it brings something new to the table each time. This is where the beauty of Stapleton's work lies. It rewards you time and time again for overcoming the challenge of simply sitting and listening.
During the course of the album, there is a threatening presence of silence. Dead silence between the gong-strikes of the title track, "Homotopy to Marie" or between the sampled dialogue and chatter of "Astral Dustbin Dirge" is almost a form of punctuation. Something always follows the thick silences found throughout the album, and each time that something is different. Stapleton's playful use of contrast between silence and impressively loud bursts of noise and sampled vocals adds again to the sinister atmosphere of this piece of work. The album, through this use of contrast, becomes an example of the changing nature music can so easily adopt, not restrained by any classical rules or structure. The album becomes a shifting entity, tracks can be played in any order, and I dare say even playing the album backwards would produce the same feeling of dread and fear that is so easily evoked by Stapleton's works.
"Homotopy to Marie" is not by any means an album that is easily accessed, even by those well versed in experimental music genres. Stapleton is by far the most experimental of the British industrial artists, but he is also the most rewarding. "Homotopy to Marie" may well not even be the best starting point for those wishing to begin the journey into Nurse With Wound's vast catalogue, but it is truly an epic demonstration of what is to be expected from Stapleton.
