Vlimmer Angststand
A newly released EP/Mini-album caught my attention, called Angststand by a one-man Berlin-based act called Vlimmer. They play a mixture of darkgaze (Darkgazz?), darkraut (hm?), drone, dark-wave, and ambient. In other words, a mutant offspring between shoegazing, kraut-rock and atmospheric gothic/industrial aesthetics... Post-dark-wave/rock maybe would be an easier definition?. Either way, we are probably gonna have to spare the rock-element away from this... cause you ain´t gonna find it on this one.
There is a certain kind of avant-garde opera thing to this. A German dark-wave Ulver maybe?... I don´t know, kind of hard to describe it. Let us try going through the tracks!
First track called Furchtdämpfer (Fear Damper) welcomes the listener with a lovely (and scary!) old-school industrial-humming sound. And then the tracks starts with atmospheric and dreamish German vocals, glittering guitars, spine-tickling rhythms, horror-movie sounds, and moody synths. A really good track, one of those (which I can recognize) of being a track which really grows on you. Lots of meat on that bone. Next track Angststieg follows it up in the same tradition, just with a bit more drama (and cool sounding synths). Fans of Ultravox/John Foxx take notice. Third track Tiefststand sucks you into the empty and dark spaces of big cities, while clearly showing a love for Kraftwerk (Radiation).
So far this EP works as a soundtrack. The fourth track is a slow, mesmerizing and dragging moody piece with hints of certain doom here and there. Fifth track Minusgrade freezes you into a deep sleep, with cold mechanical beats and epic dream-synths. Last track is the most up-tempo track on the album, crystal-like moods, and mysterious strings sum up the film-noir mysticism.
A decent album which delivers what it is meant to deliver. It´s quite professionally made, and the lush melodies and moods work where they should. At the end you can of getting (a bit) tired of the reverbed/echoed effects which you will meet on every track on the album. And a higher sense of melodies is also sadly missed BUT!... As I mentioned before, there is some meat on this bone. It is one of those that will grow on you. And the honest sincerity/hard-work that is on the mini-album is real. Would I recommend it?. Yes, I will, for the patient listener. Do check up on the physical releases, it has been released on a beautiful CD and cassette (see pictures below).
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