Formed
in true DIY fashion and resisting the shackles of formulaic rock
to explore their equipment to its fullest, Svartbag are a Danish
trio of sonic adventures who explore the dreamy yet hostile terrains
of analogue electronics, space-rock, drone-rock and kraut-rock
to carve out intensely vivid and highly evocative soundscapes
that takes listeners on a cosmic journey to the furthest leftfields
of rock. Consisting of A.REX (Mad Gustav Band, Bleeder Group),
Peter Kyed (The Bleeder Group) and Niels Ladefoged (part of the
organisation Subotnick) the trio occasionally becomes a quartet
with the arrival Andreas Hauer-Jensen who contributes to 4 of
the 5 tracks. With the use of guitars, loop-pedals and analogue
effects, Svartbag creates minimalist instrumental music where
generated coincidences are intuitively integrated in a repetitive
universe of drones. Moving slickly from dark and paranoid expanses
to serene shoe-gazing dreamscapes, Svartbag presents a well documented
and adventure-laden journey to the depths of sub-Sahara by means
of a cosmic flying carpet. Svartbag’s debut album has been
in development for a long time, not least because of the band’s
impromptu work method as they find their point of departure in
the philosophy that the equipment itself knows what it can and
will do- which makes it the bands job to pick, refine and arrange
the manifestations which are brought about by the equipment itself.
On
the nightmarish ‘Black Capricorn’ the spirits of dead
are summoned with forceful intensity as drag-beats dredge the
murky oceanic expanse to provide an organic impetus to a haunting
coalescence of hypnotic Eastern-tinged melodies, warping drones
and heavy industry sound effects. Like Merzbow v Nordvargr’s
devastating techtonic dronescapes, the arrangement is progressively
stifling and paranoia-inducing as the track expands (subtly) to
a near crashing crescendo. To mix up proceedings, crashing micro
electronics engage and disengage whilst Jesen’s drums break
refreshingly into mini micro-jazz motifs. On ‘The Flutist’,
skeletal krautrock akin to the likes of Popul Vuh is fused with
the forward-thinking, exotic, jazz-rock fusion of Tuxedomoon to
create a meandering journey in to a hypno-rhythmic hinterland
where the likes of Riley and Göttsching are national heroes.
It’s not surprising that on ‘Cairo’ that band
opt to flex their Eastern melodic muscle further than on previous
tracks but the fruits of their labor are far from archetypal.
Instead, they experiment with the spellbinding resonance of Eastern
woodwind instrumentation to create a subtle but crushing slice
of spaced-out Eastern drone melodics that takes a scenic route
to Cairo via the ancient cities of Tarantula Hawk and Wendy Carlos.
The
wafting shoe-gazer soundscapes of ‘Loop#9’ recall
the airiness of Windy & Carl after a strict-diet of Agitation
Free’s Middle Eastern themed debut album ‘Malesch’
whilst ‘Billy Name’ finishes the album in a similar
vein to how it started- an epic call-to-arms dronescape of bouncing
military percussives, howling feedback and subconscious melodics
that eventually form together within an endearing krautish sludge-rock
aesthetic.
With
their debut release, Svartbag have reignited the cosmic flame
and have provided listeners with a superb zeuhl-esque journey
into exotic, minimalist space-rock. (KS)
For
fans of: Tarantula Hawk, Windy and Carl, Agitation Free, Popul
Vuh, Mogollar
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