Denovali is prepping four album for release next month. Check out samples below, and head over to Denovali in order to pre-order some wax.
Ensemble Economoique – Melt Into Nothing (6/27)
“Melt Into Nothing” is ENSEMBLE ECONOMQIUE’s most lucid seance to date. The prolific Humboldt County musician has stripped layers off of his trademark haze but retained the beautiful desolation that’s earned him a rabid fanbase. The solo project of former Starving Weirdos member Brian Pyle, Ensemble Economique has crossed a land bridge from apocryphal world music and dusty soundtracks to gauzy 4AD-style atmospherics. Trellises of guitar embolden Pyle’s whispered, threadbare lyrics. On “Hey Baby”, the itinerant tone feels like an update on Neil Young’s stark and beautiful soundtrack for Jarmusch’s “Dead Man”. “Melt Into Nothing”, like that beautiful film music, evokes the great American expanse.
Field recordings slip in and out of the mix. On “Fade for Miles”, Pyle’s adroit effects and backwards tape manipulation make the long trail on his vocals fade into waves on a rocky beach. Pyle combines minor-key organ and spacious string synths on “Never Gonna Die”, recalling the grey grace of the releases on Factory’s gothic cousin, Benelux. Thunder accentuates the dubbed-out machine drum programming as Pyle’s dulcet tenor floats in storm clouds. The full-length also features contributions from Toronto artist DenMother and Parisian artist Sophia Hamadi, also of dark-wave Opale. This music is not excessively dark or severe. Rather, the record explores the internal dialogue of solitary walks. “Melt Into Nothing” is for making sense of humanity in nature’s unforgiving face. Ensemble Economique has made his most accessible record yet, but the complex emotion behind these tracks remains resonant and ultimately mysterious.
The Eye of Time – Acoustic (6/20)
THE EYE OF TIME is the Solo-Project of French musician Marc Euvrie. Euvrie’s musical development is deeply connected with the French DIY punk and hardcore scene, though he has been classically trained as well. He started to play piano being 9 years old, composed his first pieces with 15 and studied cello at the conservatoire after finishing school. Euvrie used to play in several bands before he began to translate his personal reflection of our complex world into music, which initiated THE EYE OF TIME. A self titled debut record, released in Spring 2012, evolved first.
For his debut Marc Euvrie’s critical writing exposed a dark look on the present, past and future: Linked to machines and samples, revealing an unnatural direction of the human being’s existence. His upcoming release “ACOUSTIC” is a consequent change of focus. Looking for the motor, the personal needs to survive, he found himself experimenting with only Cello and Piano. Apparently these classical instruments turned out to be a relevant strong signal to go back to the roots with something more natural and simple to start from. Though both records seem to go in opposite directions in terms of sound and concept, a strong underlying layer stays inevitable: The Eye of Time’s compositions imply a call to fight for the things we love.
For ACOUSTIC Marc Euvrie composed six songs for six different locations and points in time, reaching way back to ancient centuries as well as taking a glance into our near future of a yet unknown place. A very personal travel through time and space, between the beauty of nature (Cisjordania, Norway) and the beauty of hope, which allows humans to dream their dreams (Spain, Poland). Marc Euvries own feelings and thoughts about his life evoke mostly in the last two tracks, where he found a form to intensify what keeps him alive.
N – N(31) “Oie Kirr”
N + TZESNE – N(27) “The Belt”
N is the moniker of Dortmund based German experimental guitarist Hellmut Neidhardt. June marks the release of two new records, including a second collaboration with Tzesne (ES).
After a first very fruitful collaboration with Basque sound artist Txesus Garate alias TZESNE for the album CARRISSALS, released in 2011 by Denovali Records, the artistic vital necessity to exchange and work together carried on. In contradistinction to their collaborational debut Carrissals, where warm and dark qualities of drone interweaved, the upcoming release THE BELT takes a leap into the harsh environment of the post-industrial landscape. Both artists share the interest of reflecting the conditions of a chosen location. Heavy, dark and alluring is the impression, which THE BELT causes, right after giving a listen to its first minutes. The smell of bygone plants is synaesthetically floating within the soundscape, though trails to the dawn of a new era are roughly outlined. The four-track album is Limited to 100 LPs.
Accompanying the collaborational release with Tzesne, N recorded a one track solo record named N(31) “OIE KIRR“. Following the approach of his previously solo album GOOR, N has captured again his current live set. N(31) “OIE KIRR“ is a 45 minute track, only interrupted by the need to flip the record. Almost detached from its tonal origin created with guitar and amp, a deeply dark rumble initiates the track, followed by slowly accumulating captivating sounds, drifting into one another to finally gush forth to sea-like melodic drones. After around half of the track the dense grim atmosphere clears up, offering an invitation to take a rest in the sun spread doldrums… before the storm breaks loose… The uninhabited islands of (Barther)-Oie and (Great)-Kirr are the record’s eponyms, located in the lagoon of Barther Bodden on the Baltic Sea coast of northeast Germany. N(31) “OIE KIRR“ is strictly limited to 100 LPs, including a download code presenting the track as one piece.
Denovali wil also be releasing new works by Franz Kirmann and Matthew Collings in July.