Damn, I need to track this down. Big fan of Pogrom. Assuming that's who you mean by Levas? Played with him in Latvia a few years back. Great time!
Quote from: tgg on Today at 05:49:48 PMBudrūs "Canine Visions IX" (Freak Animal - 2013) - this FA title was totally off my radar until just recently- as soon as I found out it was a collaboration between Levas and Laurynas Jukonis- a member of the excellent avant-garde black metal band Anubi- I knew I had to check it out.
Musically it's as solemn, grey and bleak as the cover photo would suggest, but with a sizeable streak of psychedelia running through it, the forceful one-two punch of openers "Canine Vision I" and the industrial rumbler "Greet Me" giving way to a hazy, dissociative stretch of fractured drum loops, distorted/backmasked synth washes, crackly field recordings and moody throbs of bass guitar, all overlaid with vocals that vary from gruff, upfront PE "barking" to barely audible, depressive mumbling.
Towards the end of the album, "Wake Up!" snaps things firmly back into focus, its jump-scare vocal attack and folkish pulse eventually dissolving into a heavily FX'd guitar freak out, whilst the scratchy "Bodies of Sunday" could almost pass as an outtake from Anubi's "Mirties Metafora" sessions, the song stopping just short of exploding into fuzzy blackness. "The Bark Has Bloomed" then closes things out with a touch more of that freeform, melancholic ambience.
Taking a quick glance at the English translations of the lyrics, these are also noticeably psychedelic and impressionistic, Levas once saying on this very forum that they were inspired by assorted visions he had during a magic mushroom trip on a small island.
So, good stuff if you're in the correct headspace to take it all in- definitely not one to just chuck on in the background whilst doing mundane tasks!
