Bleek Noir – Pleasure House Bottled Air: EP Review

By Mike Ainscoe on 29th March 2021 • ( Leave a comment )

Cause for celebration. The tenth EP from Bleek Noir.

Release date: 3rd April 2021

Label: Independent

Format: DL / stream

Pleasure House Bottled Air. A title that actually sounds slightly sinister. A bit…Blue Velvet. All the things with masks and deep breathing that’s compellingly creepy. Which to be fair is probably how Bleek Noir would like it. Film noir and Bleek Noir – the perfect combo.

So why not indulge in a touch of grim cha-cha-cha and rumba/samba (or both) along with Civilise Me. An off-the-wall suggestion maybe as a contender for Strictly Come Dancing. Not sure why the thought hasn’t struck me before. Bill Bailey would love it. Genuinely. And while Genevieve might sound like she could be a character you’d encounter in BV and the accompanying All Kinds Of Ugly are typical Bleek Noir fare, the Blue Velvet vibe soon returns. It comes racing back to the fore with a vengeance on The Oldest Job In The World. A title that needs no clarification and a perfect theme methinks for Bleek Noir.

The latter comes swathed in an avant-garde backing led skeletons playing the upright barrelhouse piano on Blackpool Pleasure Beach’s Ghost Train, all fluorescent light and not quite knowing what’s coming next. A lyric that gives the EP its title and talk of deplorable vulgarity. A laconic twisting arrangement that constantly nudges the needle into the red. Destined to be a pick of the catalogue, it’s a brilliantly and deliberately discordant creation.

So there you have it – for one reason or another, Pleasure House Bottled Air has the of honour/pleasure (or a more salubrious alternative option) of being tagged the Bleek Noir Blue Velvet tribute. An acid bath of songs that rock and writhe, designed to make you squirm. Macabre rock at its finest.

Enjoy a live acoustic version of Genevieve: