"here, here..."
I think the most interesting, sometimes disturbing and eeriely beautiful aspect of surreal art is the notion that is is not surreal at all, not a bent reality but absolutely real. That concept, that omniscient fact is most real with so called "surreal" music. It is after all music and whether one chooses to call it surreal is really in the ear of the beholder. It is not like a movie were special effects creators manifest a false reality. Within music, the sounds are real and push a multitude of buttons. The sometimes odd (or not) experiences are happening in real time spinning off real sounds in our heads.
Vákoum create sonic experiences that create solid sensations in spatial ways. Their musical narration collides with each other one second and absorbs into each other the next. The Israeli & Mexican experimental pop duo, founded in NYC in 2014 by instrumentalists, composers and producers Natalia and Kelli Rudick-Padilla, blend virtuosic guitar playing, multi effect processing and enchanting vox into songs that feel more like performance art.
Their songs get under your skin like a mind expansive melodic drug.
"Golden Love" from their latest album "Linchpin", due to drop in eight days on February 19th, is such a drug. The spatial nature is potent and amazing. Sounds, that at times feels like percussive creatures, scurry about from great distances and then approach you suddenly. The sensations come at you from all sides. The electronica that can feel in between metal and plastic and flesh and blood speak to you as sparse piano, droning synths and tactile strings swirling in the ether. The vocal production is absolutely stunning. The emotional tones are what you make them but I found them to be dark, mysterious in an H.P. Lovecraft sort of way but laced with organic sensuality as well. This is not horror show but an amalgam of dark and light emotional textures and while the air of mystery is thick so is the beauty.
You can delve into some of the songs from "Linchpin" and pre-order here at the duo's Bandcamp.
http://www.vakoum.com/
The duo’s wide palette of rhythmic, textural and tonal complexity delivers an anxious beauty of mood swings that shape a profound mindset. The unexpected transitions described through carefully selected sonic processing are met with effected guitars, a blend of strong acoustic and original electronic drum beats.
Vákoum’s unconventional approach to composition delivers a tacit-like experience spanning everything from global & personal angst to existential wonder and the love for the human connection through music.
The duo released a special edition of their debut EP, Home For Home in 2017 shortly after joining in support of The Album Leaf’s west coast tour. Vákoum have finalized their first full length album in their home studio which is due to be released.
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