As newly formed Virginia/North Carolina-based duo, AREPO, prepares to release their eponymous debut album through Pax Aeternum this Friday, BrooklynVegan is hosting an advance stream of the entire record.
While Ryan Parrish (Suppression, Terminal Bliss, City Of Caterpillar) and Graham Scala (US Christmas, Collapse Culture, Interstitia) are continually performing and recording under a wide array of acts together – formerly in Highness, currently in Bleach Everything and Harmonic Cross – each project has a longstanding interest in the outer fringes of sound. AREPO was initially conceived as an outlet for the sort of ambient music that the two share a deep and abiding love of but the result was something stranger, darker, and less easily categorized.
Within AREPO’s debut album, billowing washes of synth undergird shredded instrument loops in a disorienting whole that draws on dark ambient electronics, electro-acoustic conceptual processes, and granular synthesis explorations, with additional violin contributions from multi-instrumentalist Bonnie Cosby helping to accentuate the album’s pensive, cinematic atmosphere. While Arepo may be one of the most off-putting and least accessible records either contributor has been a part of, it acts as an example of the results that can ensue when two deeply creative people remove any constraints or expectations on what they create and take a deep dive into the recesses of sound and its potential.
Scala offers, “Though Ryan and I have worked together on a lot of projects already, I’m particularly excited about this one because it’s the first time we’ve let ourselves explore some of the further extremes of our taste with no constraints or expectations placed upon what we came up with. It covers a lot of ground and it may not always be an easy or a comfortable listen but it’s likely the closest anyone will come to hearing what the inside of our heads sounds like.”
Stream AREPO’s entire debut album early only at BrooklynVegan RIGHT HERE.
All sounds on Arepo were created by Ryan Parrish and Graham Scala in their respective homes in Richmond, Virginia and Asheville, North Carolina except for violin on “The Enemy Is Listening” and “A Forest Of Knives” which was performed by Bonnie Cosby and recorded by Ricky Olsen at The Ward in Richmond, with Scala handling all mixing, mastering, and artwork. Fans of Coil, Haxan Cloak, Raime, and Brian Eno, tune in and check out.
Arepo will see digital release this Friday, March 26th via Pax Aeternum. Find preorders HERE.
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