Hekla - Turnar (2025)

Hekla Magnúsdóttir shares her name with the tallest volcano on Iceland. There's no connection to her music, I just like these geographical-musical facts. The artist herself released her third album this year and frankly speaking, it's gotta be my favourite one of the two which is backed up by the fact that Hekla received a lot of attention recently.

Hekla is a theremin player. I wouldn't be able to hear that I think, the music on the album sounds like it could well be made out of samples and synthesizers, but there is something special about playing such an outstanding instrument. Does it always sound so... dark? Mysterious but mostly ominous? No wonder that her Bandcamp account advertises the album as a "paranormal plane of haunting dread". I can hear the elements of ethereality and cosmic psychedelia, but I feel mostly darkness pouring out of each of the compositions. But maybe it's just the state of my mind. Still, I feel the strength of this music lies in the fact that everyone will be affected in a slightly different way. The only common thing is how beautiful the album is.

Turnar costs 9 EUR (7 GBP).

Check: Í Ösku og Eldi

Country: Iceland

Genre: dark theremin ambient

Label: Phantom Limb

:bandcamp:

:facebook:
:official:

:soundcloud:

:spotify:

Svntax Error - The Vanishing Existence (2023)

Coming from Sydney, Australia, the "psychedelic post-rock for the apocalypse" from the band of Svntax Error brings some unexpected developments on the post-rock music front line. The band's new album, The Vanishing Existence, is the second in their discography and it proves that the artists feel more and more comfortable with the music they make.

The first thing one notices about their music is the synthy, psychedelic sound that exists besides the guitar and drums. This is actually theremin, one of the most mysterious instrument out there. It gives this mesmerizing, otherworldly taste to the compositions which, to make the effect more striking, are not very fast, the pace is steady and, in turn, hypnotizing. This is complimented with the melodic, indie rock-like vocals that transform some of the tracks into psychedelic rock gems.

The album is written to investigate the "themes of loss in all its myriad forms and the human, emotional and physical responses they inspire" which, with the overall sound of the album, makes a rather gloomy impression. The band is going to appear on this year's dunk!festival in Ghent and I can't wait to see them live there!

The Vanishing Existence costs 6 EUR (10 AUD).

Check: Backwards Through the Storm

Country: Australia

Genre: theremin psychedelic rock

:bandcamp:

:facebook:
:official:

:instagram:

:youtube:

:spotify:

Meczup - Songs of the Others (2019) EN

Theremin is a music instrument developed by Leo Termen, the function of which is based on field disturbances of human body. Another name for the instrument is etherophone and this alone makes me love it unconditionally. If there's someone who doesn't know the horror-filled sound of theremin, they can catch up thanks to this extremely original album by the Turkish duo Meczup.

On daily basis, the band play electronic music contaminated with some Middle East folk influences, but here, they employed the theremin itself. Together with gothic-flavoured keys, they play, as the title suggests, the songs of others. The others are not chosen by coincidence, this bunch consists of legendary composers including Tschaikovky, Shubert, Mozart and much more. This combination of classical music and theremin that is mostly connected with horror b-class movies makes an extraordinary impression. Especially that the whole album is dominated by this atmosphere that reminds me of some weirdly gothic projects such as The Black Heart Procession. Great idea and phenomenal execution.

Songs of the Others costs whatever you want to pay.

Check: Dance of the Swans

Country: Turkey

Genre: gothic/horror neoclassical

:bandcamp:

:facebook:

:soundcloud:

:spotify:

Meczup - Songs of the Others (2019) PL

Theremin to instrument muzyczny skonstruowany przez Lwa Termena, którego działanie polega na zakłócaniu pola przez obecność ciała ludzkiego. Inna jego nazwa to eterofon, za co ma moje dozgonne propsy. Jeśli ktoś nie zna pełnego grozy brzmienia thereminu, ma szansę nadrobić to dzięki niezwykle oryginalnej płycie tureckiego duetu Meczup.

Zespół grający na co dzień zarażoną bliskowschodnim folkiem elektronikę, tutaj postawił właśnie na brzmienie thereminu. Wraz z gotycko brzmiącymi klawiszami wygrywają oni tytułowe piosenki innych, a są to nieprzypadkowi inni - wśród interpretacji Turków mamy więc i Czajkowskiego i Szuberta i Mozarta i wielu innych. To połączenie klasyki z kojarzącym się głównie z podrzędnymi horrorami thereminem robi niezwykłe wrażenie. Zwłaszcza, że nad całością dominuje klimat kojarzący się z twórczością takich gotyckich dziwolągów jak The Black Heart Procession. Znakomity pomysł i fenomenalne wykonanie.

Songs of the Others kosztuje ile tylko chcesz.

Sprawdź: Dance of the Swans

Kraj: Turcja

Szufladka: gothic/horror neoclassical

:bandcamp:

:facebook:

:soundcloud:

:spotify: