Posted in Whathaveyou on July 5th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
Emil Bureau, known for fronting Copenhagen psych rockers The Sonic Dawn, has set Sept. 29 as the release date for his second album under his Emile solo moniker, Spirit. The follow-up to 2020’s The Black Spider (review here) promises broader arrangements and collaborations around the self-recording/mixing multi-instrumentalist, who is streaming the subdued but immersive “Circles” as the first audio to come from the record.
Tracked at the proverbial away-from-it-all locale, Spirit boasts 10 songs, and going by the various impressions of the first record and the pair of singles Bureau has issued since, I wouldn’t expect “Circles” to fully represent Spirit from whence it comes, but it is enough to get some idea of tone and atmosphere, and it grows more psychedelic as it moves through its utterly-digestible four-minute span, folkish in a way that reminds particularly of 16 Horsepower or the early work of David Eugene Edwards in Woven Hand. Not a thing about which to complain.
The PR wire has it like this:
Folk and psych rock songwriter EMILE to release new solo album “Spirit” this September 29th on Heavy Psych Sounds; stream first single “Circles”.
Danish psych-folk songwriter EMILE (also frontman of The Sonic Dawn) announces the release of his sophomore album “Spirit” this September 29th on Heavy Psych Sounds Records, and presents a soulful first single with “Circles”.
Danish-French singer and songwriter EMILE is also known for fronting Copenhagen acid rock band The Sonic Dawn. On his new solo effort “Spirit”, Emile unfolds a new and exciting side of his songwriting: each song ebbs and flows effortlessly with a great sense of purpose always centered around his voice and masterful acoustic guitar playing.
On “Spirit”, EMILE is backed by a small ensemble of selected musicians and blackbirds singing the sundown. The lyrics reflect an unpretentious cosmic consciousness simply marveling at existence as it is. “Spirit is about connecting with our surroundings, with nature and the universe. There is beauty in transformation too”, he reminds us. This is a different album from a different singer-songwriter, both surrealistic and easy to understand, accomplished and untamed light and heavy — like the passing of time.
About his new single “Circles”, he comments: “Circles is about expanding horizons and breaking free from tracing one’s own footsteps. About seeking out new experiences traveling, discovering and learning. With an eclectic mix of otherworldly sounds and instruments, it delivers a simple but determined idea: the universe is calling if you just listen.”
All songs were written and performed by Emil Bureau, with additional instruments by Jonas Waaben (percussion), Erik Errka Petersson (Hammond Organ), Morten Grønvad (vibraphone) and Rasmus Miehe Sørensen (flute). It was recorded and produced by Emil Bureau in a beautiful place in the countryside. Mixed by Emil Bureau at The Village Recording (Copenhagen) and mastered by Hans Olsson Brookes in Svenska Grammofon Studion Mastering (Gothenburg). Artwork by Robin Gnista.
Posted in Whathaveyou on May 4th, 2022 by JJ Koczan
You don’t have to go far into Emile‘s new single ‘Diamanter i Solen’ to get a handle on the wistful vibe. It’s certainly there by the time the song has faded all the way in, even more certainly there by the time the first verse starts, Emile Bureau (also of The Sonic Dawn) singing sweetly in layers with some falsetto for good measure, operating under his first-name-only solo moniker as he did for his first record, 2020’s The Black Spider/Det Kollektive Selvmord (review here), which came out through Heavy Psych Sounds.
Emile followed that album with the kind-of-a-live-record-but-no-concerts 2021 complementary offering Nightshade, which was more based around acoustic guitar, but the layers here of organ, the extra vocals, and the psychedelic flourish as the track makes its way into the repetitions of its title line to close out are hypnotic and melancholy both. It’s not the kind of song that’s trying to be uplifting, but neither is it a downer for downer’s sake. It’s a classic psych-pop ballad, in other words. There’s another new song coming in Fall. The more the merrier.
Here’s the PR wire info:
EMILE – Diamanter i Solen
Single Release 13. Maj 2022
Spotify / Apple Music Pre Save: https://push.fm/ps/diamanterisolen
DIAMANTER I SOLEN is a new single release from Danish-French songwriter and music producer, Emile.
Diamanter i Solen (Diamonds in the Sun) is an ode to the early and cold Scandinavian spring, where the first cold but beautiful sunny days divide the winter dark from endless summer nights. It is a balancing act between reality and hallucination, and is dedicated to all day-dreamers alike.
The song is part of a complimentary pair of singles, reflecting the changes in nature and moods during the changing seasons. The second single Efterårsblade will be released in the early Fall 2022.
Emile released his first solo LP ‘The Black Spider / Det Kollektive Selvmord’ in 2020 on Heavy Psych Sounds Records. Aside from playing solo, Emile is also the frontman of the Danish psych band The Sonic Dawn.
Posted in Reviews on March 27th, 2020 by JJ Koczan
I’m not saying I backloaded the Quarterly Review or anything — because I didn’t — but maybe subconsciously I wanted to throw in a few releases here I had a pretty good idea I was gonna dig beforehand. Pretty much all of them, as it turned out. Not a thing I regret happening, though, again, neither was it something I did purposefully. Anyone see A Serious Man? In this instance, I’m happy to “accept the mystery” and move on.
Before we dive into the last day, of course I want to say thank you for reading if you have been. If you’ve followed along all week or this is the only post you’ve seen or you’re just here because I tagged your band in the post on Thee Facebooks, whatever it is, it is appreciated. Thank you. Especially given the global pandemic, your time and attention is highly valued.
Quarterly Review #41-50:
Ocean Chief, Den Tredje Dagen
The first Ocean Chief record in six years is nothing if not weighted enough to make up for anything like lost time. Also the long-running Swedish outfit’s debut on Argonauta Records, Den Tredje Dagen on CD/DL runs five songs and 59 minutes, and though it’s not without a sense of melody either instrumentally or vocally — certainly its guitars have plenty enough to evoke a sense of mournfulness at least — its primary impact still stems from the sheer heft of its tonality, and its tracks are of the sort that a given reviewer might be tempted to call “slabs.” They land accordingly, the longest of them positioned as the centerpiece “Dömd” seething with slower-Celtic Frost anxiety and the utter nastiness of its intent spread across 15-plus minutes of let-me-just-go-ahead-and-crush-that-for-you where “that” is everything and “no” isn’t taken for an answer. There’s respite in closer “Den Sista Resan” and the CD-bonus “Dimension 5,” but even these maintain an atmospheric severity consistent with what precedes them. One way or another, it is all fucking destroyed.
Come ye historians and classic heavy rockers. Come, reap what Rise Above Relics has sown. Though it’s hard sometimes not to think of the Rise Above Records imprint as label-honcho Lee Dorrian (ex-Cathedral, current With the Dead) picking out highlights from his own record collection — which is the stuff of legend — neither is that in any way a problem. Barnabus, who hailed and apparently on occasion still hail from the West Midlands in the UK, issued the Beginning to Unwind in 1972 as part of an original run that ended the next year. So it goes. Past its 10-minute jammy opener/longest track (immediate points) “America,” the new issue of Beginning to Unwind includes the LP, demos, live tracks, and no doubt assorted other odds and ends as well from Barnabus‘ brief time together. Songs like “The War Drags On” and “Resolute” are the stuff of ’70s-riff daydreams, while “Don’t Cry for Me My Lady” digs into proto-prog without losing its psych-folk inflection. I’m told the CD comes with a 44-page booklet, which only furthers the true archival standard of the release.
To those for whom Helen Money is a familiar entity, the arrival of a new full-length release will no doubt only be greeted with joy. The ongoing project of experimental cellist Alison Chesley, though the work itself — issued through Thrill Jockey as a welcome follow-up to 2016’s Become Zero (review here) — is hardly joyful. Coping with the universality of grief and notions of grieving-together with family, Chesley brings forth minimalism and electronics-inclusive stylstic reach in kind across the pulsating “Nemesis,” the periodic distortion of her core instrument jarring when it hits. She takes on a harp for “Coppe” and the effect is cinematic in a way that seems to find answer on the later “One Year One Ring,” after which follows the has-drums “Marrow,” but wherever Chesley goes on Atomic‘s 47 minutes, the overlay of mourning is never far off.
Belfast dual-guitar sludge five-piece Elder Druid return with seven tracks/39 minutes of ready punishment on their second album, Golgotha, answering the anger of 2017’s Carmina Satanae with densely-packed tones and grooves topped with near-universal harsh vocals (closer “Archmage” is the exception). What they’re playing doesn’t require an overdose of invention, with their focus is so much on hammering their riffs home, and certainly the interwoven leads of the title-track present some vision of intricacy for those who might demand it while also being punched in the face, and the transitional “Sentinel,” which follows,” brings some more doomly vibes ahead of “Vincere Vel Mori,” which revives the nod, “Dreadnought” has keys as well as a drum solo, and the penultimate “Paegan Dawn of Anubis” brings in an arrangement of backing vocals, so neither are they void of variety. At the feedback-soaked end of “Archmage,” Golgotha comes across genuine in its aggression and more sure of their approach than they were even just a couple years ago.
I know the whole world seems like it’s in chaos right now — mostly because it is — but go ahead and quote me on this: a band does not come along in 2020 and put out a record like Lost Orbiter and not get picked up by some label if they choose to be. Among 2020’s most promising debuts, it is progressive without pretense, tonally rich and melodically engaging, marked out by a poise of songcraft that speaks to forward potential whether it’s in the coursing leads of “Drake’s Equation” or the final slowdown/speedup of “Trappist-1” that smoothly shifts into the sample at the start of closer “Dead Space.” Mindcrawler‘s first album — self-recorded, no less — is modern cosmic-heavy brought to bear in a way that strikes such a balance between the grounded and the psychedelic that it should not be ignored, even in the massively crowded international underground from which they’re emerging. And the key point there is they are emerging, and that as thoughtfully composed as the six tracks/29 minutes of Lost Orbiter are, they only represent the beginning stages of what Mindcrawler might accomplish. If there is justice left, someone will release it on vinyl.
Michigan doom-death five-piece Temple of Void have pushed steadily toward the latter end of that equation over their now-three full-lengths, and though The World That Was (their second offering through Shadow Kingdom) is still prone to its slower tempos and is includes the classical-guitar interlude “A Single Obulus,” that stands right before “Leave the Light Behind,” which is most certainly death metal. Not arguing with it, as to do so would surely only invite punishment. The extremity only adds to the character of Temple of Void‘s work overall, and as “Casket of Shame” seems to be at war with itself, so too is it seemingly at war with whatever manner of flesh its working so diligently to separate from the bone. Across a still-brief 37 minutes, The World That Was — which caps with its most-excellently-decayed nine-minute title-track — harnesses and realizes this grim vision, and Temple of Void declare in no uncertain terms that no matter how they might choose to tip the scale on the balance of their sound, they are its master.
Lunar Swamp have spawned as a blusier-directed offshoot of Italian doomers Bretus of which vocalist Mark Wolf, guitarist/bassist Machen and drummer S.M. Ghoul are members, and sure enough, their debut single “Shamanic Owl,” fosters this approach. As the band aren’t strangers to each other, it isn’t such a surprise that they’d be able to decide on a sound and make it happen their first time out but the seven-minute roller — also the leadoff their first EP, UnderMudBlues, which is due on CD in June — also finds time to work in a nod to the central riff of Sleep‘s “Dragonaut” along with its pointed worship of Black Sabbath, so neither do they seems strictly adherent to a blues foundation, despite the slide guitar that works its way in at the finish. How the rest of the EP might play out need not be a mystery — it’s out digitally now — but as far as an introduction goes, “Shamanic Owl” will find welcome among those seeking comfort in the genre-familiar.
The nine-track/42-minute second LP, II, from Milano post-this-or-that five-piece Huge Molasses Tank Explodes certainly finds the band earning bonus points based on their moniker alone, but more than that, it is a work of reach and intricacy alike, finding the moment where New Wave emerged from out of krautrock’s fascination with synthesizer music and bring to that a psychedelic shimmer that is too vintage-feeling to be anything other than modern. It is laid back enough in its overarching affect that “The Run” feels dreamy, most especially in its guitar lines, but never is it entirely at rest, and both the centerpiece “No One” and the later “So Much to Lose” help continue the momentum that “The Run” manages so fluidly to build in a manner one might liken to space rock were the implication of strict adherence to stylistic guidelines so implicit in that categorization. They present this nuance with a natural-seeming sense of craft and in “High or Low,” a fuzzy tone that feels like only a welcome windfall. Those who can get their head around it should seek to do so, and kudos to Huge Molasses Tank Explodes for being more than just a clever name.
Set to release through Heavy Psych Sounds on the same day as the new album from his main outfit The Sonic Dawn, The Black Spider/Det Kollective Selvmord is the debut solo album from Copenhagen-based singer-songwriter and guitarist Emile Bureau, who has adopted his first name as his moniker of choice. Fair enough for the naturalism and intended intimacy of the 11-track/39-minute outing, which indeed splits itself between portions in English and in Danish, sounding likewise able to bring together sweet melodies in both. Edges of distortion in “Bundlos” and some percussion in the second half’s title-track give a semblance of arrangement to the LP, but at the core is Emile himself, his vocals and guitar, and that’s clearly the purpose behind it. Where The Sonic Dawn often boast a celebratory feel, The Black Spider/Det Kollective Selvmord is almost entirely subdued, and its expressive sensibility comes through regardless of language.
Sonic restlessness! “Fire Dome” begins with a riffy rush, “Forever Zero” vibes out on low end and classic swing, the title-track feels like an Endless Boogie jam got lost in the solar system, “Celestial Tunnel” is all-thrust until it isn’t at all, “Blind Faith” is an acoustic interlude, and “Dark Matter” is a punk song. Because god damn, of course it is. It is little short of a miracle Saturno Grooves make their second album, Cosmic Echoes as remarkably cohesive as it is, yet through it all they hold fast to class and purpose alike, and from its spacious outset to its bursting finish, there isn’t a minute of Cosmic Echoes that feels like happenstance, even though they’re obviously following one impulse after the next in terms of style. Heavy (mostly) instrumentalism that works actively not to be contained. Out among the echoes, Saturno Grooves might just be finding their own wavelength.
