The artistic collaborative The Body and BIG|BRAVE have shared their second song off their upcoming debut album Leaving None But Small Birds, “Polly Gosford.” The album is set to drop on September 24th via Thrill Jockey. Alongside the record announcement, the band shared the first song from the album “Oh Sinner.”

Both bands by themselves are more known for their work in the metal scene, yet the new record will be a dark folk one. The Body are an experimental-metal duo that collaborated with various bands before. In 2019 the duo got together with the industrial rock group Uniform and released their album EVERYTHING THAT DIES SOMEDAY COMES BACK. A year later, the band collaborated with another rock band, Bummer, and then released a 7” vinyl. Just earlier this year, the metal band released their solo album I’ve Seen All I Need To See. 

BIG|BRAVE also released a new album this year. Vital came out in April.

The collab’s newest song, “Polly Gosford,” is also the inspiration for the album title. The name is featured in the line, “He covered her grave / and hastened home / Leaving none but small birds / her fate to bemoan.” The song is influenced, like the rest of the album, by the traditional songs from Appalachia, Canada and the British Isles. The record centers around themes of oppression of marginalized groups and the victims of hardship, spinning the traditional songs’ tragic tale of femicide into one of ghostly revenge.

The distorted guitars and the heavy rhythm of the instruments drag the audience into a dark hole. It is fascinating to hear such free creative expression through traditional folk music. Being inspired by the hopeless, the song weighs heavy and time flies by as we get drawn into the deep of rhythm and frustration. The emotions in the vocals are raw, which makes it such a unique piece. The song sets high standards for the rest of the upcoming record.