Ghosts Beneath The Brine [LP]

Wanderwelle - Ghosts Beneath The Brine [LP]

After All Hands Bury The Cliffs At Sea (IMPREC 503LP, 2023) and Black Clouds Above The Bows (IMPREC 507CD, 2022), Amsterdam-based collective Wanderwelle presents the final entry of their album trilogy for Important Records. Conceived as a sonic reflection on the climate crisis and its devastating impact on coastal ecosystems, Ghosts Beneath The Brine addresses the mass deaths of fish, seabirds, crustaceans and countless other creatures that call these seas home, now rapidly being overfished, warming and acidifying. Where antique cavalry trumpets played a central role on Black Clouds Above The Bows and a dying church organ shaped All Hands Bury The Cliffs At Sea, cymbals form the core of Ghosts Beneath The Brine. The instruments were submerged in seawater for extended periods of time and played with a bow at various stages of corrosion. As the bronze alloy gradually reacted with the saltwater, their sound transformed, becoming darker, more fragile and unstable. Over time, the metal began to sing in ghostly overtones, as if haunted by the waters that shaped it. Much like large groups of fish shimmering beneath the surface, the cymbals slowly lost their shine, both sonically and physically, as salt and time took hold. Alongside its environmental narrative, the album draws from marit(more...)

A1. At Cape Lonesome
A2. Dissolving Souls
A3. Men Dragging Carcasses
A4. Empty Nets
B1. The Sea Bishop's Sermon
B2. A Special Albatross
B3. Littered With Bones
B4. To Become A Ghost