Matryoshka are a band from Japan who play a nearly heartbreaking version of post-rock topped with gentle, almost drowned-out vocals. This adds to the character of the record. It’s one of the saddest albums I’ve heard in a while, but achingly so.
From the good souls over at Projekt Records:
“Mira were a dream pop/shoegaze band from Tallahassee, Florida, formed in 1996 featuring vocalist Regina Sosinski, guitarist Tom Parker, bassist Max Fresen and drummer Alan Donaldson, with second guitarist Mark Davidson. After releasing several EPs on their own Tesseract label, the band signed to Projekt Records, and their song “Cayman” appeared on Projekt’s cat-themed 1999 compilation A CAT-SHAPED HOLE IN MY HEART. Mira released their eponymous debut studio album on April 4, 2000.”
From Linnea Hjertén’s Bandcamp site:
“Born from the synthesis of Swedish folk melodies and ritual ambient, Linnea Hjertén’s debut album “Nio systrar” (‘Nine sisters’) is a wordless invocation of primordial energy – a psychoacoustic gateway to altered states of consciousness.
Each of the nine tracks brings us deeper into the cycle of spiritual death and rebirth, stripping away the old to make way for the new. With a musical maturity far beyond her years, Hjertén channels the ethereal beauty of Dead Can Dance, the spellbinding chants of Kari Rueslåtten, and the minimalist Nordic atmosphere of Forndom.
[…]
With an expansive love for diverse genres – from ambient to folk, from jazz to various forms of metal – her music is less about the style and more about a different quality, sound, or purpose. Trained in music engineering, Linnea relishes the creative journey from inner melody to final production, unearthing the exact tools needed to craft the perfect musical space.”
There is such a gentle lilt to the voice of Nata Boundriver of Ясный-Svetly that I can imagine this being what Kate Bush or Hope Sandoval sounding like if either had fronted post-rock era Mark Hollis or some band specializing in ethereal, ghostly music. A sublime listen.
Dead Can Dance singer Brendan Perry released this masterpiece of an album for 4AD Records in 1999. 23 years later, the label is offering the album as a download, CD and LP with bonus tracks from a performance recorded during 4AD’s infamous 13 Year Itch residency at the storied London venue in 1993
Our friends at Lost Tribe Sound have released yet another gem in their catalog. This release is from the Danish group Skyphone, and their Bandcamp release page explains further:
“The new Skyphone record original began as a project to explore long form close-miced acoustic sessions. The trio worked to record and capture the intimacy of various acoustic instruments. The recordings were very meticulous and long, and were largely meditations over harmonies and fugue-like movements of guitars, bass, synths, piano as well as mandolin, bells, wind instruments and acoustic drums. The trio spent a lot of time building the right sound, exploring endless loops and atmospheres before editing and deconstructing everything to capture the essence of the sessions. This slow chiseled refinement left a real depth of sound to the final songs. Hints of field recordings coloring the periphery, while lumbering rhythms hold a steady pulse, freeing the guitar and bass to create a myriad of melodies and counterpoints opposite the synthesizers. The record also features an incredible barrage of effects, in large part thanks to the 80’s era TC-2290.”
Lost Tribe Sound has another release featured this week! This one pairs two leading composers, Dag Rosenqvist & Aaron Martin, working together creating a filmic masterpiece. The music is tense, influenced by everything from classical music to ethereal. From the press release:
“American and Swedish composers Aaron Martin and Dag Rosenqvist came together in 2011 under the name FROM THE MOUTH OF THE SUN. Their first album Woven Tide was released by Experimedia in 2012 and they returned in 2015 for their second album Into the Well. In 2016, three pieces from Woven Tide played an integral role in David Wingo’s score for Jeff Nichols’s Warner Bros. feature Midnight Special. Their third album, Hymn Binding was released with Lost Tribe Sound in September 2017, followed by the EP Sleep Stations in 2018, and 2021’s acclaimed Light Caught the Edges. Also in 2021, the duo released an original score for the Oscar shortlisted documentary by Jimmy Goldblum, A Broken House (Dronarivm).
Using a vast array of acoustic and electric instruments, including cello, piano, banjo, pump organ, and guitar, while utilizing analog equipment, Aaron and Dag craft unique musical landscapes full of contrasts, where melodies and ominous textures intertwine. Since 2005, both artists have also had their solo efforts released by influential imprints like Preservation, Miasmah, Type, and Fang Bomb. Dag and Aaron also created the original score for Joshua Weinstein’s film Menashe (A24), released in 2017.”
A post-punk/ethereal gem has been bestowed upon us by our friends at Lost Tribe Sounds. Arrowounds tie together influences from bands like, “Can, Bark Psychosis, Young Gods, Slowdive, Durutti Column, Seefeel and much of early 4AD,” according to the band bio, but there is an element that makes this band something apart. Noise-rock, post-rock, and a more eerie feeling than their influences betray sets the band apart.
Friends of the blog Āustras Laīwan have released one of the most sublimely engaging albums I have heard recently. The tone is melancholy throughout, almost achingly so. There are parts where one feels like they’re opening up a ballerina box in an old Russian film. In terms of sound, it’s crisp and warm, and this will appeal to those who like neofolk, neo-classical, contemporary and soundtrack music.
trajedesaliva, our friends from Galicia, Spain, have released a new album in partnership with Maud the Moth, a new artist I presume is also from the area. This has to be their tightest work, combining the most stellar elements of early, more harshly ‘industrial’ Current 93 with a more ethereal streak where fans of Dead Can Dance can feel comfortable. Spoken word, wordless vocals and bewitching soundscapes make for a stunning album.