Treble is hosting the exclusive premiere of “Forest Of Knives,” the new single from newly formed Virginia/North Carolina-based duo, AREPO, preceding the release of their eponymous debut album through Pax Aeternum in late March.
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.
With the unveiling of “Forest Of Knives,” Scala delves, “So, this one is pretty much in keeping with every project I’ve undertaken recently in the sense that it sounds nothing like what was intended. Ryan and I conceived of this project in one of the late-night ambient benders we’ve embarked on during the times I stay with him to work on Bleach Everything records. It was supposed to sound like Songs: Ohia meets Tim Hecker but we ended up with something pretty far afield from that. We’re both very similar in the sense that, even if we set out to make something subtle and pretty, it ends up being weird and unsettling. This is one of my favorites from the album however – Bonnie’s also great to work with and meshed well with the weird tangle of sounds we cooked up.”
Treble writes, “Though the members of AREPO have a pedigree in hardcore and heavy psych, ‘A Forest of Knives’ is a more haunting and atmospheric sound, blending distorted ambient tones with a psychedelic drone, like Grouper fed through even more layers of effects. About halfway through the track, however, it begins to pick up some steam and even a pulsing, nigh-techno rhythm, which gives it a tense, film score quality. It’s at once tense and beautiful, and made even more so thanks to the addition of some otherworldly violin performance from Bonnie Crosby.”
Stream AREPO’s “Forest Of Knives” first through Treble at THIS LOCATION.
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 on March 26th via Pax Aeternum. Find preorders HERE and watch for additional audio previews and more to post in the weeks ahead.
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