A Winged Victory...

I was waiting for the Tube yesterday and saw this poster for an event in January 2015 called Minimalism Unwrapped (and yes the excellent photography above is from yours truly). The first names that jumped out at me was obviously Steve Reich and Scanner. The second though was A Winged Victory For The Sullen, which was more of a surprise as I had only heard of them twenty four hours beforehand. Coincidence? I think not...or probably.

Anyway, A Winged Victory For The Sullen is a duo who make incredibly haunting and uplifting ambient tapestries. It isn't surprising these guys are so adept at crafting intricate aural infinities - Adam Wiltzie is Stars Of The Lid and played in Sparklehorse whilst Dustin O'Halloran is a composer. They have just released second album Atomos and it is breathtaking. Made as a score for a dance piece performed at Sadlers Well in London, the suite of songs hang together like gossamer in twilight, an effervescent mirage of texture, grandiose in the most primal sense, strings, piano and electronica melding together to melt the hardest of hearts.



You can buy Atomos in beautiful clear double vinyl through Erased Tapes here, and tickets to Minimalism Unwrapped here. Both are/will be amazing.

Rusalka

The term 'rusalka' is an eerily seductive one. Steeped in Slavic lore and mythology (and bearing much resemblance to the Banshees and nymphs of other cultures), a rusalka is said to be a ghost/wraith that takes on the form of a beautiful young woman, but is a drowned woman or an unbaptised dead child. Most versions of this represent rusalki as benign creatures, who can be put to rest if their death is avenged. However, that is not always the case, and can at times attack a human foolish enough to indulge them...

And hence we come to Rusalka, the Illinois band to have taken on the moniker. Brandishing post rock as their weapon, the four piece have just finished off their first EP, Accent, and it lends itself to the backstory of their name. Hovering between the ethereal and the violent, Rusalka evokes early Mogwai (although not matching their severity or beautiful brutality), Appleseed Cast or Stars Of The Lid, none of which is a bad thing at all. They have some growing to do in order to get out of the shadows of their idols and to provide a canon that is indicative of their own individuality, but as a starting point Accent ticks all the boxes with aplomb.

Accent can be gleaned from the band's bandcamp site - name your price.

Rusalka - Bossfight

Rusalka - Lester Burnham (live)