Sarattma Premiere “Escape Velocity”; Debut Album Due Aug. 12
Philly astral jazz-of-death instrumentalist duo Sarattma — Sara Neidorf and Matt Hollenberg, from whose given names that of the band derives — will release their debut album, Escape Velocity, through Nefarious Industries on Aug. 12. It’s not every band that can pull the skronk out of extreme metal and use technical wizardry to turn it into something that speaks to an avant garde history of fuckery, but Escape Velocity trades between longer and shorter tracks across seven songs — starts longer, ends longest with the 15-minute finale “Twilight Realm of Imaginary Notes” — and offers the frenetic intensity of its opening title-track (premiering below) as a beginning burst of intention, carrying djent riffing and Fredrik Thordendal-esque lead work to a place of atmospheric openness that clues the listener on the quick that anything can and just might happen throughout the proceedings that follow, save perhaps for vocals, though who the hell knows where they’d go anyway.
But if “Escape Velocity” begins the record that shares its name with only the most urgent of tech-jazz-metal shenanigans, that’s a fitting representation of ethic if not the complete sound of what follows, as “Theraphosidae” reinvents Primus‘ “John the Fisherman” as perhaps what would’ve happened if Mr. Bungle-era Trevor Dunn wrote it instead of Les Claypool and the subsequent “Sublingual Excavation” — which I’m not even going to look up perchance I might see an image of one — digs into on-its-own-wavelength-and-dares-you-to-get-there atmospheric range, breaking almost at its halfway point into a comedown that if nothing else gives the listener a moment to realize that Hollenberg and Neidorf have been running circles around them as suits their respective pedigrees playing with John Zorn, the thrashier Aptera, and so on.
A solo-on-top, skillfully-layered, and relatively un-manic stretch reminds of fellow Philly residents Stinking Lizaveta, but
while Sarattma might find a home on a bill with that outfit, the purpose across Escape Velocity is the band’s own, as the turn toward the sweeter and wistful dystopian melody of centerpiece “To Touch the Dust” unveils. I won’t call it straightforward, since structurally speaking it’s not, but its ebbs and flows emphasize dynamic in a way that stands it out and makes the entire album experience of Escape Velocity richer, so that when its post-crescendo quiet finish gives way to the echoing resonant guitar at the outset of “Socotra,” the duo are even less predictable than they already were. Is the next punch coming? From where?
I mean, yes, obviously the next punch is coming. It would be a fun adventure if Sarattma went ambient drone for the entire second half of their debut LP — unexpected, if nothing else — but even on their own level it wouldn’t make sense. “Socotra” is eight minutes long, and there’s plenty of room for it to make you feel like you’re being crunched between oddly-shaped gears, all hexagons and intertwining trapezoids and whatnot, so that when “Sciatic Haze” takes over and soon enough runs backward and forward at the same time in Blind Idiot God knows only what rhythmic pattern before it resets and launches face-first into a red giant star and you feel like they just dropped Advanced Calc II on your head, it’s well earned.
And that 15-minute capper? It’s there, lurking, waiting. A goodly portion of it sees Neidorf and Hollenberg on relatively stable and serene ground, though its peacefulness is a reshaped clay of reality, urbane and sharp-cornered without necessarily being brutalist, but even the proggier landing spot for Escape Velocity would be inevitably bent in the brazen spirit of what’s preceded it. That it holds attention until unveiling its final metallic roll at about 12:20 into its 15:02 is a credit to the versatility of the players involved, though clearly if they couldn’t pull this stuff of technically, the band wouldn’t have happened in the first place. Some late forward bass rumble is welcome and continues the less-than-onslaught vibe that Sarattma have worked into, and I more than a little bit feel like I should be applauding when the song ends, so I suppose that’s probably a good sign.
Recorded in 2019, Escape Velocity won’t speak to everybody. It’s a challenging, demanding listen, and its rewards are in appreciating the level of performance and the substance as well as the controlled chaos of styles which it inhabits. But if you can keep up with it, those rewards are easily worth the effort.
PR wire info and preorder link follow the player below.
As always, I hope you enjoy:
Sarattma on “Escape Velocity”:
“The title track of the album is meant to feel like a cross-species motherboard takeover, the terror of spotting an oasis only to realize it’s a wormhole, a crash-landing into an unknown ecosystem. The album’s overarching theme is the alien within the body, in the form of pain and illness. We know this at different intensities at different points in our own lives and in witnessing the experiences of loved ones. Though we can’t necessarily take the reins on this process, there’s some reprieve in depicting it.”
Nefarious Industries presents Escape Velocity, the debut LP from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania-based experimental instrumental post-metal duo SARATTMA.
The follow-up to their 2017-released Inner Spaces EP, SARATTMA creates an entrancing, psychedelic, apocalyptic journey through extraterrestrial landscapes on their debut album Escape Velocity. Drummer Sara Neidorf (Mellowdeath, ex-Brian Jonestown Massacre, Aptera) and guitarist Matt Hollenberg (Cleric, John Frum, John Zorn) weave an intricate fusion of modern improv, punk, jazz, djent, avante-psych-rock, and prog, evoking Frank Zappa, John Zorn, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Dysrhythmia, Don Caballero, and Stinking Lizaveta. Their visually arousing music is a cinematic space punk anthem for those grimy enough to have survived the end of days.
Dedicated to Jill Neidorf (1957-2020), Escape Velocity was recorded in July 2019 at Black Spine Studios in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, mixed and engineered by Matt Hollenberg with additional mixing from Steve Roche, guitar re-amping engineered by Kevin Antreassian at Backroom Studios in Rockaway, New Jersey, and mastered by Colin Marston at The Thousand Caves in Queens, New York. The striking cover artwork was created by Caroline Harrison and the layout handled by Erich Kriebel.
Escape Velocity will be released digitally and on LP in a run of 250 copies on Black vinyl on August 12th. Fine preorder/presave options at the Nefarious Industries shop HERE: https://www.nefariousindustries.com/collections/sarattma-escape-velocity
Escape Velocity Track Listing:
1. Escape Velocity
2. Theraphosidae
3. Sublingual Excavation
4. To Touch The Dust
5. Socotra
6. Sciatic Haze
7. Twilight Realm Of Imaginary Notes
SARATTMA:
Sara Neidorf – drums
Matt Hollenberg – guitars, bass VI, bass
Nefarious Industries on Facebook
Nefarious Industries on Instagram
Nefarious Industries on Twitter
Tags: Escape Velocity, Nefarious Industries, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Sarattma, Sarattma Escape Velocity
[…] Listen to SARATTMA’s “Escape Velocity” through The Obelisk now at THIS LOCATION. […]
[…] duo Sarattma prepares to release their debut LP, »Escape Velocity«, through Nefarious Industries, The Obelisk is now hosting an exclusive premiere of its title […]