Band: Vlimmer
Release: “lllll” EP
Tags: Shoegaze/Darkwave/Postpunk/Krautrock/Drone
FFO: Slowdive, Clan of Xymox, Kraftwerk, Trisomie21
Releases: 02 September 2016
Formats: CD, cassette, download
Band members: Alexander Leonard Donat
Label: Blackjack Illuminist Records
Contact: blackjackilluminist-records@gmx.de
Homepage: blackjackilluministrecords.bandcamp.com
PRESS RELEASE: English
On the fifth part of his 18 EP series, entitled ‘lllll‘, the one-man band from Berlin lays more focus on upbeat music, and, in the first two songs, even opens up for more light in an otherwise darker universe: ‘Zielschwund‘ is a driven opener, it kicks off with an echoed synthesizer and airy washed out vocals which almost seem to invoke ghosts. It is a fast paced 9 minute song with a motorik beat which leads into a goth-like chorus and an almost 80s-sounding keyboard motif which could be something for people who like Netflix’s ‘Stranger Things‘. For the band it is an almost unusually playful song which seems to step out of the dark and wet caves of uncertainty. The song closes with a 3-minute haze of drone full of twilight and fever dreams, yet, the following Shoegaze-Krautrocker ‘Stadtgeschwür‘, again, floats in daylight, roams through the city, seems to dance even a little more. But be prepared, the rest of the EP dives deep down into the abyss. The minimal tribal drum and the darkly morbid synths of ‘Tentakelbau‘ shake the listener’s guts. The cacophonous sound continues in the industrial/post-punk-induced ‘Tunnelstarre‘ which offers disharmony and a counterattacking warm string quartet – which results in a unique atmosphere of despair, claustrophobia and revelling. ‘Rippenstiche‘ is the kind of closer with ghostly keyboards that seems to feel most comfortable in the darkness. If there’s no way out why not celebrate it with some Dark Pop? Lyric-wise ‘lllll‘ deals with a brief stay in an overcrowded train, a look into the eyes of an intriguing face, a look into the abysm of a ruthless city suffering from constant rain.