Ages after his last effort, the album Jungle Judge, released on cassette on your beloved imprint, Pavel Eremeev, aka Holypalms, also a member of legendary microtonal rock duo Usssy, returns to Artetetra with a new work collecting five new tracks transforming regional audio materials into his distinctive and unique post-world heavy electronics.
“Summoning” was composed in the seven years hiatus following Holypalms' last release, showing a process in which the musician develops the narrative aspect of its musical techniques further, obtaining complex musical weavings and composing his new materials from several sound practices and recording/producing techniques.
Conceiving the tracks in the form of five different stories due to their intricacy and constant, often unpredictable turns, Pavel uses his collection of personal field recordings alongside selected field recordings by Laurent Jeanneau (Sublime Frequencies, Discrepant and Akuphone) collected in Southern Laos and Cambodia as backing material to shred on with a heterogeneous number of instruments such as a Kurdish tanbur personally made by Usssy's guitarist Artem Galkin, bendir, various wind instruments and, of course, his signature custom, quarter-tone baritone guitar. His executive instrumental mastery then is extended and warped by hyperdigital production and massive manipulation following the approaches of legendary figures such as Aisha Devi, Lotiс, Rabit, Arсa, Elysia Crampton and Gazelle Twin.
“Summoning” is then the result of a post-geographic, organic neuroticism through which Holypalms' various, interpenetrating and superimposing sound layers are channeled and transduced into world bending and extremely dynamic compositions.
Once again, Holypalms' mythology expands into unforeseen worlds, avoiding the facility of ethnotechno tropes and dodgy strategies to conjure or, better, summon musical stories chanting opaque, mirage-like tales of legendary spears, techniques to separate oneself from its own shadow, reptile instruments and ecliptic collapses.
“It was not entirely clear what it was.
What kind of wings it had. Where was it headed to.
Why was its shadow not where it should have been?
What kind of yet-to-be-written mythologies was that creature part of?
We were stuck in this image for a long time and felt bliss.
It was emanating an intense, strange fossil energy.
We never saw the animal again, moving like a pictogram in the sand.
Since then we play our instruments and sing our songs,
hoping that the mirage may reappear amidst the dunes”
credits
released December 28, 2023
Composed, mixed and mastered by Pavel Ereemev
Art by Fajar Widianto, @mhdfajrian_
Oh, how I long for this tape to be reissued so I can get a physical copy! A crazy-quilt montage of tribal electro-funk and narration-punctuated glitches. Every track is a winner! Anthony Owsley
Space rock jams get experimental and slightly evil with zoned out synths and wheezing guitar lines plus soft, sweet vocals. Bandcamp New & Notable Oct 20, 2017