Goat – “Jazzman”

A different side of Goat surfaces this week, finding the band in decidedly more reserved environs that usual, at least from the first strains finding their way here today. The band has scored a three-part series that tells a fictionalized tale based on the true story of David Hartley and the Cragg Vale Coiners, notably the biggest fraud perpetrated in British history. The Coiners shaved down genuine currency and used the bits to smelt new coins. Mixing the precious metals with less pure ores, they stamped them with French, Spanish, and Portuguese markings that were less common, and thus less able to invalidate in their remote base of Yorkshire. The series, written and directed by Shane Meadows, culls five new tracks written by Goat for the series and two older cuts — “Fill My Mouth,” and “Gathering of Ancient Tribes.” In a bit of a reversal of roles, the band wrote the new score from impressions and inspirations they’d felt from the source text, and Meadows cut the final film to their music.

The band lets loose “Jazzman” today, a haunting, pastoral work that eschews the band’s usual rhythmic storm and arsenal of psychedelic fuzz. It’s a nuanced take from the long-running Swedish unit, finding them growing and evolving while paying a bit of a nod to influences closer to home. The score to The Gallows Pole is released July 7th from Rocket Recordings.

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