Album Review: Vorn – The Winter Session

Vorn is a twisted genius.

The man is brilliant. One of the more able musicians I know. Listen to his works and you’ll find him spanning hip-hop, rock, pop, blues, disco … uh … polka… Look, he’s diverse, OK?

He’s also sick in the head. He sings about drowning puppies and delays on the railways caused by suicides. My favourite two Vorn songs are about buying condoms and weed. But his music is good enough that people tolerate his content to the point that no-one has called the authorities yet.

Never one to miss a chance for ironic humour, for the video Vorn has the entire band dressed in camo, meaning that you can’t actually see them.

For the latest album, The Winter Session, Vorn has taken a different direction. He and his band recorded and filmed the entire album in a continuous take, like a self-indulgent prog-rock band. Recording 50 minutes of music without break provides challenges. It necessitates good flow. There isn’t the same opportunity to re-tune or rest.

This can be seen as a downside because the music isn’t as varied as we have come to expect from previous Vorn records. At the same time, it makes the album cohesive. We still get a small cross-section of the music spectrum – the hip-hop track towards the end stands out – it just all feels same-y.

The Winter Session has a strong electronica vibe, relying heavily on synths, keyboards and effects like looping pedals. The inclusion of violin provides an interesting baroque-meets-new-wave feel.

In many ways The Winter Session contains elements expected from your typical Vorn record – witty, self-aware lyrics that see-saw between braggadocious and self-loathing; harmonised chanting; catchy choruses; crisp drums with strong focus on alternating sticking on the hi-hats; the signature violin; Vorn’s falsetto; sheer weirdness… But long instrumental interludes bridging songs and the over-saturation of sci-fi sounds add new flavour to the Vorn arsenal. I especially like the tabla beat on the midi keyboard that complement the drums at one point.

Because he is so odd and quirky, Vorn is doomed to both critical praise and public indifference. Thankfully in recent years some of NZ acts who dare to be different have garnered success (Kimbra and Lorde), but it’s still a tall-poppy market. Singing with a Kiwi accent is borderline heresy, so Vorn may as well burn himself at the stake.

But at the end of the day, this is the main thing you need to take away from watching The Winter Session: Vorn has a fender squier strapped to his front for the duration of the recording, but spends the whole time playing keyboards instead of riffing on his guitar.

Who would have expected something so pretentious from a dude from Taranaki sporting a mullet?

Vorn links:

https://vornnz.bandcamp.com/

http://www.youtube.com/vornography

http://www.powertoolrecords.co.nz/

Joseph James <3 Vorn and has drummed with him on a few occasions separate from Vorn’s main project.

Album Review: Julien Baker – Turn Out The Lights

Julien Baker’s voice is a show stopper.

I remember the first time I heard it. I was listening through a compilation – a fundraiser for the victims of the Orlando shootings last year. There was a few punk and emo bands I liked that had caught my interest, plus a handful of artists that I hadn’t heard of. Baker’s contribution came on and I stopped what I was doing.

Who. Is. That?!

It was the part in “Rejoice” where Baker really starts belting it out: “I think there’s a God and he hears either waaaa-aaaa-aaa-aaaay”. What a voice!

A quick Google search led me to Bandcamp, and within minutes after I’d downloaded Baker’s album, Sprained Ankle. It became my go-to for times that I wanted to listen to something quiet and relaxing – that wind-down album for just before bed.

It quickly became apparent that I wasn’t the only one who had stumbled upon Baker. I began spotting her name more and more frequently – a Noisey article here, an interview there. Friends shared her Audiotree session on nerdy Facebook music groups. All who heard her voice fell in love [save for Arctic Drones writer Foofer, who remains staunchly opposed to her “Tumblr girl emo music”].

Now I’m not usually one to listen to lyrics. Post-rock – a generally vocal-less genre – dominates my listening habits. And my favourite band, Biffy Clyro, sing nonsense. But Baker’s music is so stark that I can’t help but pick up on what she’s singing.

She covers some heavy content. Identifying as both gay and Christian, she finds herself in a conundrum. Is she loved? Is she condemned to hell? Many of her songs explore the theme of acceptance.

The lyric that caught me off guard:

“If I could do what I want, I’d become an electrician
I’d crawl inside my ears and I’d rearrange the wires in my brain”

And then, just to up the ante, the following song starts with this verse:

“I used to never wear a seatbelt ’cause I said I didn’t care what happened
And I didn’t see the point in trying to save myself from an accident”

… woah. That’s heavy.

That sucks. To feel that you are a mistake, that you shouldn’t be who you are. Although the music is relatable. Who hasn’t felt self-doubt at some point of their life?

I find her struggle compelling, and hope that she can come to terms with who she is in a way that stops hurting. Sadly, as much as I sympathise with her, I feel that the emotion she injects into her music is what sets it apart in the first place. By channeling her pain she can summon something within that truly stands out when she releases it.

Sad Tumblr girl emo music indeed. But Baker’s articulate honesty resonates. And the music supports it perfectly. Sombre piano twinkling and tender guitar picking. Violin enhances the music at times, but on the whole its a case of simple arrangements to support the key attraction: Baker’s voice.

Baker has an incredible voice. Raw and emotive, she simply shines. Some tracks use vocal layering to great effect, with Baker both softly cooing, and belting out harmonies in the background. Just listen to the chorus on the title track. There’s nothing quite like hearing a good singer let loose like that. Goosebump material for sure. As nice as the fragile singing sounds, it feels so satisfying to hear her defiant screams against rejection.

Whatever your reason, give this powerful, intimate and cathartic masterpiece a listen.

Julien Baker links:

Buy/stream Turn Out The Lights: http://mat-r.co/TurnOutTheLights

Website: http://julienbaker.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/julienrbaker

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/julienrbaker/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/julienrbaker/

Joseph James

ALBUM REVIEW: I AM SONIC RAIN – HIDDEN

I have to admit that I’m a bit of a romantic. Especially when it comes to this particular genre of music. I can’t help but envision all these majestic landscapes as they pass through my mind’s eye like one of those Classic ViewMaster toys you had as a kid. I can listen to a song and instantly be overcome with a slide reel show of the Moors in England or the mountains of Montana, all in their sepia tone glory. This is only brought up because I’ve always wondered how much a band’s surroundings come into play when writing music. Surely, if you’re surrounded on all sides by a sprawling nothingness and a grey sky that seems to go on in perpetuity, that would have to have some bearing in an artistic sense.

I AM SONIC RAIN hails from Treviso, Italy which sits about 40 minutes directly north of Venice. I understand you didn’t come here for a geography lesson, but Treviso’s proximity to Venice is important. If a mountain, a forest or a moor compels one’s artistic creativity then surely being within a stones throw from one of the birthplaces of the Renaissance would. But it’s not all gambesons and surcoats. Treviso (and Italy in general) has had a tumultuous history. The rise and fall of Rome. The Machiavellian era where assassins plied their trade. The evils of a devastating World War. Italy’s history reads much like any other country’s history. The major difference here is that no matter how dark the days got Italy is the birthplace of some of the most inspired and beautiful paintings, sculptures, philosophy and literature the world has ever known. It may sound hyperbolic, but I AM SONIC RAIN’S Hidden continues this trend with confident, laconic and inspired songwriting.

According to the band Hidden began production not soon after their last release “Between Whales & Feverish Lights”. This is album that has been 7 years in the making. There is a meticulousness and precision that immediately becomes evident upon starting the first track. This is a well produced album where every note and musical phrase has it’s place in the world. I tend to worry about albums that feel as if they’ve been produced into the ground, but I AM SONIC RAIN is still able to make everything sound raw and intimate. The track Bastille really stands out for me on Hidden. This is a stellar track and the only one that features lyrics. Bastille is almost Jenniferever-like in style. It’s melodic, dark and almost has an uneasy air about it.

Hidden is all about control. I AM SONIC RAIN has an almost surgical precision approach to every bar on the page. They are a highly disciplined band in regards to musicianship. The more I listened to this new album the more I fell in love with it. There are layers on layers on layers here and it will most likely take multiple listens for I AM SONIC RAIN’s genius to shine through. Hidden absolutely rewards patience and attention to detail. As a listener you almost feel as if you’re part of the process as there are several “Oh I get it” moments on the album.

I Am Sonic Rain. Image: Alessandro Carlozzo

Treviso’s own isn’t a band that throws some cords in a few amps and just starts writing. They’re mad scientists in a lab creating order out of chaos with volatile ingredients that could start a dangerous chemical reaction at any moment. There’s so much on this album to listen to and enjoy if you just take the time to really delve into their sound. On the track “Bengala” alone you’ll hear beautifully layered guitars, an almost 70’s detective show horn section and pirouetting xylophones. I AM SONIC RAIN even showcases a Suzuki Omnichord. An instrument, I must admit, I had to look up but am now fully convinced is the raddest instrument to ever grace an album (seriously, Google this thing).

I AM SONIC RAIN isn’t formulaic by any means. They are a band that employs perfectly a “controlled chaos” modus operandi. Even in sections where they put the drop on a song and let it unfold (as on the track “Loulan”) you never quite feel like you’re out of your element. This is both boon and bane. There will be some who think the album feels sterile (like any good surgical instrument), but Hidden is deeply rewarding. It is one of those albums you’re going to come back to and think “Hm, I don’t remember hearing a glockenspiel before”.

Hidden is aptly named. The listener acts as an archaeologist on the hunt for an ancient civilization. At first glance all you see are the hot, golden sands of an endless desert. Lifeless trees the only landmark to break the horizon. Once you are able to set up camp and begin to dig, you start to reveal the foundations of an ancient temple buried for millennia. A temple hidden from the eyes of man for eons. This new album is that temple and the deeper you dig the more that is revealed to you.

Hidden is available through Deep Elm on December 1st. Preorders can be found at this link: http://deepelmdigital.com/album/hidden

I Am Sonic Rain links:

Website: http://www.iamsonicrain.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/iamsonicrainband/

Bandcamp: http://www.deepelm.com/iamsonicrain/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/IamSonicRain

ALBUM REVIEW: ROSETTA – UTOPIOID

Perennial post-metal journeymen Rosetta began their sojourn into the dark recesses of cerebral rock in Philadelphia in 2003. In that time they’ve released some truly memorable records and became the godfathers of an underappreciated scene. They’ve now released their 6th album fully independently and continue their 14 year trend of challenging listeners with truly erudite songwriting.

Rosetta is a band perpetually at a crossroads. Never satisfied with representing one sound they venture to combine all the horror of a war torn landscape with that of the serenity of a deathbed. This is a band that has been dubbed as writing “metal for astronauts”. They are a thinking man’s band. Rosetta melds perfectly the 90’s hardcore sound of a band like Earth Crisis with the melodic undulations of If These Trees Could Talk. Layered on top of all these ingredients is a violent sense of urgency that keeps you listening.

The Philly boy’s 6th album Utopioid unabashedly continues the trend of never really letting you rest easy while listening. The first track “Amnion” is a perfect example. An instrumental piece, “Amnion” lures you in with it’s melodic stoicism giving you a false sense of security. When the final notes ring their end you go right into “Intrapartum” that begins with an almost choir like canticle. It isn’t long before you’ve realized your mistake. You’ve been too trusting. The snake has already deceived you with its poisonous tongue and there may be no way to go back. Songs like “King Ivory Tower” and “Neophyte Visionary” forego all pretense and immediately go for the throat. Interspersed throughout all the gloom is Rosetta’s unique touch of placing beautifully melodic passages in just the right places. These passages act like arteries that pulse new hope within all the savage din and cacophony, but just as you start to relax you’re thrust back into the melee fighting for air. It’s undeniably brilliant.

If you look at the song names and how they are ordered you definitely see a concept forming. Couple the lyrics with the song names and you recognize a story starting to unfurl. It seems to be a story about birth/rebirth. Of the rise to power and manipulating man’s desires. Of being taken advantage of and feeling culpable. Of wanting to believe but ultimately losing faith. Utopioid is about the futility of human effort. It borrows heavily from The Ecclesiastes, a book of the Tanakh that purports that all of man’s vanities and desires matter not one iota as death is the ultimate leveler.

You can recognize a lot of that futility in the song structures. From what lyrics I was able to discern there was a lot of gravity set on ushering in and building with light. Light in this case being a metaphor for knowledge or illumination of the mind. The Ecclesiastes hones in on this idea quite a bit. Gaining knowledge and wisdom is fine, but it’s all for naught. On Utopioid Rosetta does a wonderful job of conveying the duality of man through their ability to perfectly mix chaos with harmony. Clean and guttural vocals constantly do battle as the two opposing forces of dogma and living true come together to achieve the same goal.

Utopioid marks Rosetta’s third album while completely independent. The band and label Translation Loss Records dissolved their partnership in 2013. Since then Rosetta has continually been able to grow. They were able to fully recoup within 24 hours their self-funded album The Anaesthete in 2013 and were the top-selling release on Bandcamp for nearly a month. They’ve since decided to stay independent with the release of 2015’s Quintessential Ephemera and now Utopioid, giving credit to the old American adage “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”.

You can certainly hear Rosetta’s approach on their newest album. It was a collaborative effort from the first track through to the last. They’ve poured themselves put into every chord, syncopated beat and lyric. Rosetta may be a band 14 years in the making, but with Utopioid you can almost hear the band transcending to new heights in the empyrean firmament.

ROSETTA IS:

Michael Armine
David Grossman
Bruce McMurtrie Jr.
J. Matthew Weed
Eric Jernigan

Rosetta links:

Website: http://www.rosettaband.com

Bandcamp: https://theanaesthete.bandcamp.com/

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/rosettaband

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/rosettaband

Instragram: http://www.instagram.com/rosetta_band

Utopioid was produced by Rosetta and Francisco Botero at Studio G in NYC.

Album Review: Gregory Tan – Sky Threader’s Journey

It’s quickly clear that Gregory Tan usually writes soundtrack music when listening to his latest album, The Sky Threader’s Journey. While 2016’s Far and Away was an ambient/post-rock styled release, The Sky Threader’s Journey sounds more like a video game.

As you could expect from the album title, Tan tries to take the listener on a journey with his music. We watch as soldiers prep for a grand battle; take in the grandeur of the bustling courtyard in King Arthur’s Camelot; feel the air rush past as we fly through the sky, riding on giant eagles. Or at least those are some wild interpretations… To quote Tan: “each piece takes the listener on a thematic adventure of sorts.”

“As a composer, it is just my desire and dream to capture emotions and transform them into music,” Tan writes, “but I would also want for this music to serve a purpose that goes way beyond the celebration of an individual’s creativity.”

Electronic tones on this album give it a dated feel, like a polyphonic ringtone, which probably explains why I imagine computer games when I listen to it. Plus the drums feel tight and rigid, making me guess that they are also programmed. This is offset by more traditional instruments. The blend of orchestral instruments like violins juxtapose against the inorganic computerised tones.

Tan is a prolific musician, a composer by profession. I find it intriguing when people who write soundtrack music decide to compile some of their works for release as an album [examples include Brad Couture, Rhian Sheehan, Christoffer Franzen]. Why choose these particular songs? What message are you sharing? Is there a cohesive theme that sets these tracks apart from the many others you’ve written?

Regardless of his reasonings, Tan is clearly proud of his work. It is tight, intricate and detailed – certainly more fleshed out than his last EP. Simultaneously going classical and modern, Tan has created an epic listen.

Gregory Tan links:

Bandcamp: https://gregtanmusic.bandcamp.com/

Website: https://www.gregtanmusic.net/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gregtanmusic/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/gregtanmusic

Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/gregtanmusic