asia menor - Vaho
Sello Fisura
Chile's finest asia menor return for round two. Their 2019 demo was all the band had to it's name until Enola Gay in 2023. A debut to whet the whistle if there ever was one, said demo tracks(i = Patio, ii = Tesela, iii = Doce and iv = La Naturaleza) would re-emerge with a polished sheen. This time round, it's all new material. A completely new expanse to venture out on. The artwork resembles a mechanical object in flight through silk, smoke, vapour. A visual representation of the albums sound and feel? It seems likely.
Vaho - "Lo bueno que tiene, lo malo que ignoro" - opens on a riff that repeats and builds back and forth like a recurring kaleidoscopic slap. The track slowly descends into a chaotic swirl. 2-minutes and 19-seconds in and we're hit with our first curveball. The tension. The release. The uncertain air that hangs thereafter; the aftermath of an atomic bomb. Debris. Decay. Time standing still. The world spinning on and off it's axis. In line, and out of. It's a full journey in 6-minutes.
I find myself slipping in-and-out of translating music that's not in the English language. I am fully aware that things can get lost in translation - hence the saying. Often times, the nuance of lovely language is lost. However, the music itself is just as potent and lush. Ichiko Aoba is an artist that comes to mind when this kind of hurdle re-appears. The music is undeniable, beyond lyrical meaning.
Sonically speaking, the band have moved up many a rung on the ladder of soundworld building - sonic landscapes to live within; it's wholly immersive. A ferocious river with the dreamiest of undercurrents to get your mind swept away in. The album's sound, funnily enough, softens on "Metal".
Vaho is full of sonic statements, rather than songs. Art with a brash bite. Encounters which leave you beautifully battered and bruised. Scars to be fond of. The talking moments in "Luego, también" remind me of those on King Crimson's "Thela Hun Ginjeet".
Lead single "Vi al diablo" - I Saw the Devil - cuts through with it's incisive lead line. Like a blade through the heart of the album, the simplicity of the scalpel - within the context of a pretty, ornate album so far - catches you off guard.
Vaho ends on the just-short-of-12-minute track in "Calor" - it features the Norvel Orquestra, as did the previous track "Mehuín". Hard-hitting drums pound the dreamy worlds of said previous track to dust, rendering it a short-lived-and-breathed daydream.
I was not expecting the album to be as fleshed out and expansive as it is. It's less immediate and much more patient than it's predecessor. It feels a lot less riff-based and singy-songy, and a lot more space-of-sound, sonic-world conscious. Aware of itself. It's an album that's full of nuance and angles to be perceived from - full of scope. Stand back as far as your mind allows, and catch the wide angled view of this gorgeous work.
