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Avarus, "Vesikansi"
For their second album on Secret Eye, this Finnish group salvages gear from some electronic junkyard to make these gurgling basement recordings. Perhaps not, but that’s what the fidelity of this album suggests. It’s not such a bad thing, however, because the recording quality brings a murky depth to the album resulting in an underwater feeling, caressing the music and allowing it so swim.
There are a lot of great, weird things going on here, and the group rarely comes up for air. “Loylyvesi,” for instance, features what could be a deep-voiced animal learning human language for the first time over a barrage of plumbing transformed into tribal rhythm. This one-sided speech eventually becomes a conversation when another beast joins in, which by its dark whisperings has the trappings of a trickster. Eventually something like the beeping of an emergency vehicle shows up in the background.
Crowd chatter starts “Vissyvesi,” which here is divided into two tracks and was recorded live in Dublin with guest Tara Burke. Hard to define low frequency movements, liquid electronics, and guitar squeals establish the scene. Burke, whose Fursaxa material is fairly distinctive, isn’t immediately recognizable, although I suspect she’s one of the banshees wailing during the latter half of the song, but I could be wrong. A sinister riff sneaks into the set before depth charges from the guitar implore the drums to take up a beat.A dime store rhythm begins the second half of “Vissyvesi.” Soon come electronics that could be air escaping the lungs of a drowning victim. After a cartoonish intro, a dementedly childish voice enters the mix. Burke’s voice finally appears thereafter, lending the track a meditative quality on which the album ends.
Although there are only three songs, there are so many changes within the songs themselves that the album never gets static or boring. If anything, the album’s over far too quickly. Having recently made their first U.S. appearance at Terrastock, hopefully I won’t have to wait too long to witness their wonderful muck in person.
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