Scott Kelly
Spirit Bound Flesh

In a single year, three albums are released that are somehow related to each other, and in their own way and genre, three splendid works, on the verge of a "masterpiece."

2001, "A Sun that Never Sets" by Neurosis is released, also in 2001 "As the Crow Flies" by Steve Von Till (vocals and guitar of the aforementioned Neurosis) is released, and again in 2001 this obscure "Spirit Bound Flesh" by Scott Kelly, also vocals and guitar of the aforementioned Neurosis, is published.

Now that in a single year three albums of this kind are released, it’s no coincidence!

This "Spirit Bound Flesh" is an intense and dark vision that Kelly gives us of his world. Sparse, as always, it approaches a skeletal essence of music with tearful notes and disarming lyrics.

Nothing but his voice, at times whispered, at times clearer and brighter, accompanied by an acoustic guitar and very little else.

The opening of the album "I Don't Feel You Anymore" welcomes us into this tormented human existence that Scott narrates to us in a soft voice. A stripped-down and simple guitar arrangement, and here you see the difference that distinguishes him from Von Till in Neurosis, simplicity in front of a microphone, with all its anxieties and sadnesses.

The album smoothly and darkly glides away, like the arrival of a storm, which besides the cold and the rain, also brings back distant sadnesses and solitudes, but in reality always present like dark eyes watching us from every corner.

Moving to say the least "Sacred Heart" where, in keeping with the theme of simplicity, our "neurotic" reserves a song entirely sung "a cappella," giving us listeners the luxury of hearing him breathe between words, and noting the light inflections of the tone of his voice, as if he too is moved while singing.

There’s little to say about the rest of the album, it continues with continuous icy visions, with the acoustic guitar slowly taking shape, going on to modify its sound with the aid of a Phase, just to remind us that he also plays in Neurosis!!

"The Honour of My Prisoner" closes the album with phenomenal mastery, a very simple initial guitar riff that lets us distinctly perceive the movements of the hand on the instrument's keyboard, that squeaking of strings that I personally adore! Scott Kelly's voice, even in this last track, is magical and diabolically seductive.

An album for silent occasions, where one can fall in love with their own sadness and the rain that slowly beats against the windows.

Painfully sweet.