By: Dave Allan Guzda
Insect Ark | website | facebook | bandcamp | soundcloud |
Released on June 8, 2015 via Autumsongs Records
I was fortunate a while back to review Insect Ark‘s début EP Long Arms. I really enjoyed the EP and asked for “a longer musical voyage aboard the Insect Ark“. Dana Schechter (who until recently, was Insect Ark) has answered my request for more somber instrumental wanderings. Her new full-length release is entitled Portal/Well and it’s certainly another engrossing voyage upon the Ark. The rich, creepy, highly textured ambiance and bewitching instrumentation which initially attracted me to Insect Ark is unquestionably back and it oozes out of every moment of Portal/Well.
I found an instant attraction to the tracks ‘The Collector’ and ‘Portal/Well’. These two plucky tracks remind me of vibe Godflesh create. That intense, slow, meaty groove that is both captivating and forceful. The bass tones that Dana uses are deep, melodic throbs that drive the tracks forward with a discernible urgency. With the generous low-end atmosphere present the mournful long notes from the lap steel guitar really animate the higher spectrum. Ark hits you with wave after wave of dark delicious swirling guitar tones that rise and fade, dodge and weave, like ominous sonic spectres.
Insect Ark continues to maintain a high degree of experimentation on Portal/Well. While there are hints of experimental wandering throughout the album but the monstrous track ‘Octavia’ and the eerie ‘Low Moon’ are the best examples of this. At over 8m long ‘Octavia’ is a protracted but rewarding climb. It slowly rises in tempo amidst increasingly sinister samples and layers of straining chaos. Dana’s ability to create dramatic and unsettling atmospheres are once again utterly imposing. This sound is the very embodiment of the doom genre with its ability to “evoke a sense of despair, dread, and impending doom“.
If you weren’t unsettled already (unlikely!) then ‘Low Moon’ should get you there. The track is another unstoppable, highly theatrical descent into the abyss. The song’s tension intensifies as dark clanging percussion and ominous synth are blended into uncomfortable textures that waft about like a sickly tonal haze from a witch’s cauldron. The slow oppressive atmospheres and sudden ambient jolts can cause goose bumps. Ahem. It is an amazing track. I recommend you listen to it only with the lights on.
Portal/Well delivers, plain and simple. It’s a gloomy instrumental ride through a black forest of stunning, dark and doomy atmospheric magic that is chilling and satisfying to brave. Embrace the shadow and give this evocative gem a listen. If you dare.
