photos by Nathan A. Verrill
In just a week, cinematic ambient trio IONOPHORE will release their entrancing fourth album, Knells. Preceding the record’s official unveiling, the band presents a video for the track “Take Its Course,” which is now playing exclusively at CVLT Nation.
With its members hailing from both Oakland, California and London, UK, IONOPHORE is the project of multi-instrumentalists Leila Abdul-Rauf (Vastum, Fyrhtu, Terebellum), Janek Hendrich (Qepe, Not Quite So, Betterthief), and Ryan Honaker (Souls And Cities, Betterthief). Formed in 2012, the trio continues to weave their trademark cinematic dark electronics and organic elements, melding the orchestral strings of Honaker with the horns and voice of Abdul-Rauf, embellished with the electronic flourishes of Hendrich.
Knells is the lush follow-up to IONOPHORE‘s well-received 2018-released Whetter. The record sees the group exploring a more introspective, neoclassical sound, pondering a weightless feeling of late-night stillness and ambience, interrupted by elements of lethargic jazz on “Take Its Course,” and the distant anguish of whirring machines on “Our Garden.” The album closes with the cool glow of “Contemplation,” bringing calm to the preceding events. Produced by the band, mastered by Myles Boisen at Headless Buddha, and completed with cover art and layout by Janek Hendrich, Knells offers IONOPHORE’s most captivating and immersive material to date.
The new video for “Take Its Course” was created by IONOPHORE’s Janek Hendrich. The band offers with its premiere, “As the meditative album opener, ‘Take Its Course’ sets the introspective, cinematic mood that builds throughout Knells. Written pre-COVID, the lyrics portend the quiet devastation of a plague that has since become our day-to-day reality, somberly accentuated by the funereal horn and acoustic guitar in the song’s dissolving coda.”
CVLT Nation writes, “…the sounds they create are deceivingly simple and absolutely captivating. The result is music that’s tangible; sound that physically caresses you; harmony that grabs you by the chakras and shakes you in your core.”
Immerse yourself in IONOPHORE’s “Take Its Course” video first through CVLT Nation now at THIS LOCATION.
IONOPHORE will self-release Knells digitally next Friday, February 26th. Find preorders HERE.
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