[photo by Katie Hovland]
Night Of Your Ascension is the latest full-length from WREKMEISTER HARMONIES. Out now on Thrill Jockey Records and boasting contributions from nearly thirty musicians including Lee Buford and Chip King (both of The Body), Alexander Hacke (Einsturzende Neubauten), Cooper Crain (Cave), singer Marissa Nadler, harpist Mary Lattimore, composer Olivia Block, Eric Chaleff (Bloodiest), Dylan O’Toole and Ron DeFries (both of Indian), Bruce Lamont (Yakuza), Sanford Parker (Buried At Sea), Mark Solotroff (Anatomy Of Habit), Solomon Lee Walker, Chris Brokaw (Come), and Jaime Fennelly (Mind Over Mirrors), Night Of Your Ascension is heavy both musically and thematically.
On the title track of the album, WREKMEISTER HARMONIES‘ J.R. Robinson was inspired by the eerie story of Don Carlo Gesualdo, a sixteenth-century composer whose madrigal “Ahi Dispietata e Cruda” is reimagined and restructured here. The second long-form track, “Run Priest Run,” tells the story of Father John Geoghan, a priest convicted of molesting some one-hundred-fifty children who was executed by a fellow inmate. Night Of Your Ascension is a commentary on our own fascination with bloodlust and our seemingly insatiable appetite for lurid depictions of depravity. The music on Night Of Your Ascension is as hauntingly beautiful as it is brutal, the questions it provokes are weighty.
Listen to WREKMEISTER HARMONIES’ Night Of Your Ascension alongside an in-depth interview with Robinson at THIS LOCATION.
Preorder Night Of Your Ascension via Thrill Jockey mailorder at THIS LOCATION.
In conjunction with the record’s release, the band recently issued a video excerpt of the thirty-two minute title track featuring Jesus Lizard’s David Yow. The clip initially premiered at Spin Magazine who offered, “The title track in particular is demonstrative of Robinson’s – and his vast collective of associates – ability to careen between doomy drones and throat-shredding shrieks, catching joy, terror, and ecstasy in the wide net of instrumentation. [The video] appropriately captures some of that regal air. Yow visits a bloody dinner party and also stars as a creepy, undead sort of dude, before things get violent. The B-movie-indebted clip was directed by Robinson himself and you can watch it right here.”
Sample the video at THIS LOCATION.
The WREKMEISTER HARMONIES tour with Bell Witch kicks off on December 2nd. Bell Witch, along with violinist Esther Shaw, will be providing instrumentation for the WREKMEISTER HARMONIES pieces Then It All Came Down and Night Of Your Ascension.
WREKMEISTER HARMONIES:
12/02/2015 Barboza – Seattle, WA
12/03/2015 TheCobalt – Vancouver, BC
12/04/2015 Obsidian – Olympia, WA
12/06/2015 The Panic Room – Portland, OR
12/07/2015 The Metro – Oakland, CA
12/08/2015 Starlite Lounge – Sacramento, CA
12/09/2015 Complex – Los Angeles, CA
12/10/2015 Alex’s Bar – Long Beach, CA
12/11/2015 Flycatcher – Tucson, AZ
12/13/2015 Mohawk – Austin, TX
12/14/2015 Double Wide – Dallas, TX
12/15/2015 Record Bar – Kansas City, MO
12/16/2015 7th Street Entry – Minneapolis, MN
12/17/2015 Empty Bottle – Chicago, IL
12/18/2015 Vaudeville Mews – Des Moines, IA
12/20/2015 Marquis – Denver, CO
12/21/2015 Diabolical Records – Salt Lake City, UT
“WREKMEISTER HARMONIES excels at the cinematic approach to sound composition, driving narrative through slowly developing musical passages culminating in a roaring sea of dread.” – A Closer Listen
“It’s meant to be haunting and troubling, and it is – but Robinson’s deeply ingrained sense of beauty lends it a cold and terrible dignity.” – Chicago Reader
“Night of Your Ascension faces rote themes like killing, death, and despair from a fresh perspective that aspires to be illuminating. It’s also, strangely enough, an album listeners can use to make new friends. Given the way Robinson disposed of musical boundaries to put this music together, it spurs the audience to do the same practically by default. If you’re into experimental rock or metal, Night of Your Ascension naturally incites curiosity about madrigals and Renaissance composition.” – Pitchfork
“Emotionally draining but also enveloping and cathartic, WREKMEISTER HARMONIES have created something that needs to be heard.” – The Metal Observer
“This album makes for arresting listening. An unflinching, brutal musical exploration. One that questions a society fascinated by lurid scandal, yet turns a blind eye to the omnipresent horrors of poverty, injustice, warfare and bigotry. Heavy listening folks… a powerful meditation and well worth the time of day.” – Soundblab
“The themes of this album seem to come alive, as if re-enactments of these events are taking place in front of your eyes every time you listen to this album…The storytelling attribute of WREKMEISTER HARMONIES has been further increased, and that is a very scary thought indeed.” – Scene Point Blank
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