Torgeir Vassvik & Juhani Silvola - White [Eighth Nerve Audio 014]

Coming in from the offices of the Juhani Silvola-run label that is Eighth Nerve Audio these days is "White", the most recent collaboration between the labels head honcho and Sami / Norwegian composer x musician Torgeir Vassvik who, over the course of eight compositions and roughly 38 minutes of total playtie, develop a new take on traditional indigenous Sami music fused with Finnish-Norwegian avantgarde, evoking immediate memories of Eyeless In Gaza ca. 1981 with the opening tune "Royal Malabar" and its deep, dreamy and certainly inward-looking PostPunk approach, followed by the similarly deep, yet rather shamanic and spiritual vocalisms on "The Ritual", the highly dramatic, doomed layering of twangy guitars and ancient drones in the ever climaxing "Restless" before "In The Intertidal Zone" probably best reflects the original and supposedly sonically descriptive nature of Sami joiking as a musical tradition and technique due to its seemingly rather spontaneous and improvisational nature. With "Photosynthesis" the duo of Vassvik & Silvola once again harks back to the droning experimental PostPunk vibe of Eyeless In Gaza from our perspective whilst "Ancestors Push" weighs in a distinctly nocturnal instrumental Folk Noir feel bordering on dark'ish Post-PostRock at times whereas the tender and comforting interlude that is "That Girl" enters the spiritual realm of Sami dreamtime with its atmospheric and oftentime reverberating and score'esque sonic landscapes and the concluding "The Mountain Is Crying", in parts seemingly mirroring the vocal expressions of its predecessor, brings forth hypnotic rhythmic repetitions and subtle NoiseRock infusions for those who know. A highly fascinating and therefore recommended album, this.

Album artwork on Instagram!