Insect Ark - Portal/Well
Portal/Well is the debut album by the New York based project Insect Ark.The project is the creation of Dana Schechter, a multi-instrumentalist and composer, and animator. The album contains a suite of musical pieces that feel both musically challenging, emotionally moving, and almost a soundtrack for our troubled times.
The opening title track Portal/Well sets out a radical musical manifesto, of an intoxicating composition of bass led doom metal, and experimental post rock soundscapes. The bass playing is truly phenomenal, and like nothing you will have heard before. Its angular, atmospheric and melody based, and completely anchors all the compositions on this stunning album. The crashing intricate textures of the guitars and synthesisers create a chilling sense of approaching danger, and the drum programming propels the music forward in an almost fatalistic deeply sad percussive environment.
The Collector commences with the most eerie of electronic sounds. The bass and drums act almost like a vocal telling a story, as they underpin the criss crossing electronic drone sounds and the beautiful guitar phases, full of sustain and slide effects. The accompanying video provides a striking collage of filmed images and animation (made by Dana herself) that illustrates the dark mood of the track brilliantly, reflecting the influence of some of the classic Japanese ghost films of the 1960s.
Low Moon the final track starts with the most gentle of ambient melodies and noise, gradually building in intensity through layers of sound, to what feels like the soundtrack to the development of a frighteningly dystopian society, perhaps in some ways an apt musical accompaniment for our times. The track gently fades out at the end, as gently as it entered.
This album sets out a challenging new musical agenda for the whole doom/post rock musical movement, and is completely cutting edge. Surely one of the albums of the year!
Drummer Ashley Spungin joined Insect Ark after the making of the album, to complete the live sound of this wonderful music. The band are on tour this autumn, hitting Cardiff and London in November, and it is likely to be a musical event you shouldn't miss.