Worriedaboutsatan is a newish band from the UK that makes a sort of electronic ambient post-rock. Or maybe they make ambient post-rock electronica. Something like that.
The band is a duo, consisting of Gavin Miller and Thomas Ragsdale, one of whom plays heavily effected guitar while the other runs a laptop. I am unclear on which band member fulfills which role, but i suppose that isn't really important.
What is important is that Arrivals captures that deep, meandering dub groove that i enjoy so much. Worriedaboutsatan fit perfectly in my music collection alongside Pub, Casino vs. Japan, Loscil, Biosphere, Spacetime Continuum, and even the early work of The Orb. The songs are long and tend to start minimally and take their time to build to a dense climax.
This music might be ambient and vaguely relaxing, and yet it requires patience. I find that the record works best when listened to all the way through, all 62 minutes of it. There are eight major tracks in pairs, separated by three short interludes of wavering synth tones and heavily echoed vocal samples. The samples are nonsense, but in the first interlude (called .), they are easiest to understand, and are merely a female voice reciting numbers. As the interludes continue (to .. and … respectively) the vocal samples become even less substantial, until by … the voice is really more of an echoing hint of humanity lost in a sea of sound.
I am really impressed with this record. Standout tracks include the eleven minute I Am a Crooked Man, which is a bare haze of synth tones and guitar echo for six and half minutes before exploding into a frenzy of beats and hard riffing that is simply magnificent. I also really like All Things But You Are Silent, which features some Yellow6-ish guitar work alongside a slippery beat that is almost hip-hop in nature.
This is apparently only Worriedaboutsatan's third release, and it is their first full-length release after 2 EPs. The duo have really figured out what they are doing, and have created an engaging sound. I am curious to see where they take us next.
One thing i don't get is the lack of spaces in their name. Is there a shortage of space in the UK so that everyone has to run the words in their band name together (see also iConcur and Iliketrains). Worried about Satan? Maybe they are more worried of blank spaces!
|
