Wolvennest
Wolvennest
(Ván Records)
Like a river of warm sadness, Belgium’s darkened psychedelic outfit Wolvennest paints your mind like a swirling stream. Slowly, the band fixates their maddening tempo unto your being, achieving ambience, slow motion groove and arty juxtaposition. Their debut self-titled record is like the hypnotic pinwheel that adorns the cover: psychological, deft, and continuous. It’s as if Terry Riley formed a futurist band with Basquiat, Wino and Ihsahn, and played mystically for the cloudless night sky. Wolvennest strive for utter assemblage, making each drone count, continually stretching towards the infinite.
Art and motion is a big part of the band’s debut. On this record, key members of the art/kraut/experimental group Der Blutharsch and The Infinite Church of The Leading Hand join in, and you can feel the overlap. In terms of transcendence, there’s a lot to trip on here. After some hypnotic and beautifully sung doom pieces, “Out of Darkness Deep” really searches your extended soul. You’re looking at sand and space, feeling the breeze of the deep vision. The 60’s are high and dark in this rolling dreamscape—offering a carpet of acid darkness.
Painterly strokes, free jazz mentality and avant-garde distortion are some of the marks that carry the record. Sections rise and then level, a bubbling effect and circular station. Often, angles veer toward the interstellar. “Nuit Noire de L’Ame” voyages through the deep, a vessel lost in space. Reverberation and collected sound lift this number through the stratosphere. Hints of Throbbing Gristle and Tangerine Dream flutter about.
The album ends and you play it again. Lost in the haze, it becomes even stronger this time around. Its high marks are lush, the evil tasteful and the spirit perpetual. The band’s special groove is a factor based around a discussion of quality. Tinkering with bits of auditory sculpture and fabrication is where Wolvennest shine: they find patterns that swell and bend, and pinpoint the action of their inner wheel. Spinning in waves of fluidity, the band creates something for the heart and the mind. It’s a nice journey, a chance to dream of art and creation.
