February was an absolute revelation compared to January in terms of its music releases. As yet, another war broke out just as lockdowns eased we enjoyed the unexpected return of some all-time favourite bands, the most prominent of which, was Tears for Fears. ‘The Tipping Point’, has come 16 years after their previous studio album and made us dance again to its 80s synthwave rhythms and all-familiar vibe of innocence and lightness.
Alongside this release came another, from the mighty Wovenhand, whose previous album was offered 6 years ago. ‘ Silver Sash’ which we are in the process of reviewing, was co-written for the first time by David Eugene Edwards and Chuck French a long-time member of the band. Its 9 songs, delivered with David Eugene’s unique shamanic way, create a vacuum – a gaping space in our modern dystopian reality and hits us with attractive religious and indigenous wisdom, the depths of which only Wovenhand have attained.
As far as the electro/industrial side of music is concerned, Ah Cama-Sotz made sure that our desire for ceremonial IDM with added techno rhythms was fully satisfied, while Author&Punisher came out of his 4 years period of dormancy in order to present ‘KRÜLLER’ an attractively textured industrial symphony that even encompassed an unexpected cover of Portishead’s ‘Glorybox’. During February, we were also treated to a new release from Detroit’s post-punk disruptors ADULT. Their album ‘Becoming Undone’ is a stripped back-to-basic techno recipe where the rhythm absorbs all desire for lyricism and triggers every part of our body that is rhythm-sensitive. The way this album complemented Le Cliché‘s post-punk minimalism, was quite inspirational and gave the impression that these two albums were different chapters of the same story. Trentemøller‘s ‘Memoria’ occupies a darkwave-infused space injected with lighter meditational energy coming either through vocals or elegant melodies that rise above a seemingly ‘stale’, and muffled sonic base. As if working in tandem with Trentemøller, A Place to Bury Strangers came to add post-punk, psychedelic dissonance to the electronic part of this soundtrack that so far had included, industrial, IDM, techno, and darkwave elements. ‘See Through You’ is an album that explores distortion, only lightened up with high-pitched percussion sounds and a desire to experiment with noise and conceptual darkness.
Heavy music -its haunting and more lyrical sides- were represented by Cult of Luna and Hexerei, while the different shades of darkness hidden within folk music were revealed through the releases of King Dude, Lingua Ignota, and William Crighton. While King Dude chose to give new life and instill darkness into songs of the late 30s, Lingua Ignota, transformed a country song by stressing all sonic veins of darkness contained within its lyrics. William Crighton on the other hand, in his album entitled ‘Water and Dust’ treats its American rock influences with a recipe that has country sonic ‘spices’ in its rhythms and delivery of the lyrics.
The debut EP by Alto Arc gained a special place within this month’s soundtrack as it offered an unforgettable experience. Like the most skillful wizards of sound, this duo created a sonic environment that expanded and contracted the whole world around us. I can’t remember the last time a debut release had such a strong impact on me. Deriving inspiration from nature, its hectic, and often dark forces, but most of all its haunting sonic imprint, Lucy has created an album that could only accompany rituals and ceremonies inside a forest.
We doubt that the releases of the months that follow, could surpass those of this month in terms of variety and atmosphere but we cannot wait to be proven wrong! Until then, we hope you enjoy listening to this playlist, as much as we enjoyed creating it.
Blaue Rosen 