Berlin based Vlimmer are here to push avant-garde electronica in more experimental and dark paths. Having released I , ‘II‘ , ‘III‘ all since November 2015 via Blackjack Illuminist Records, they have made the dark music collectors talk a lot about that project. I discovered them 2 months ago when I listened to ‘Verankerung’ from their first EP, they caught my attention immediately and my ears sent the right vibes to my soul; I was amazed! And I was thrilled when my eye caught certain information on their page: ‘IIII‘ is already made and out very soon.
Vlimmer make music all the time, giving it out in various formats (cassette included). They make music for our personal delights and their landscapes are esoteric, so it all demands our attention. Vlimmer use synths, computers and shoegazing stuff, and still they manage not to sound blurry or chaotic, because they are very capable of composing narratives. Vocals are on, though in a distance, you know: large halls and long decays that throw more dazzle over the music and all rhythmic aspects only exist in paleness as a reminder: you are not travelling alone, we are arranged to help you. Help you with what? You see, Vlimmer can drown you, help you through the tunnels, or even guide you to the forest and it all occurs to me as a comment on society and life itself.
In ‘Grenzbereich’ (Border Area) no 3 track, I strongly felt Vlimmer staring at me, staring at life in a distance. Does it all seem like Maldoror? They are dark but not evil; their art is pumping in urban life’s passions and questions. Listen to ‘Finsterblindheit’ (The Dark Blindness) and you might hear how barren and sad fertility can be, but, on the other hand, the main melody may take you back in the flourishing experimental pop of the 60’s in slow motion— only it’s a typical dark shoegazing song of our times.
As you go on to listen to ‘III‘, a lot instruments (or midis) will appear in front and back as flashes or as fellow passengers to the trip; ‘III‘ is somehow cinematic if you listen to it from start to finish and, to be honest, the journey they take me on is always by train. They take me from urban sites to the forest, and then again to another place where few people dwell; we travel. We find no pagan stuff along the way— but something grounded and earthly caressed me during ‘Erschöpfung’ (Exhaustion), while they took me from dark to white.
You realize that one has to be descriptive and true when it comes to releases that are not of the common music, because we don’t deal with a pop/rock genre, and every artist is a universe that needs a certain attention from us to feel what it is all about. Vlimmer are one of them and may take you to the unheard without soda in it. If we could speak of the genre they are evolving in, and it is really annoying for everybody to play and mix or invent names, we’d say it’s pure alternative dark ambient, shoegazing urban (not industrial), the music we’re listening to. If you feel that I’m wrong, then your point of view might be clearer and more precise and that’s the magic in music, and especially in music of that kind.
My lonely journey accompanied by Vlimmer was amazing, and I will get on board for the next one with them for sure. It all made my darkness bearable and, somehow, we ended up safe in a misty place where music is still overwhelming everything…
Mike Dimitriou