Photo by Kurt-Prinz
Long-running Vienna–based industrial/post-rock collective PHAL:ANGST will release their fifth full-length, Whiteout, January 13th via Noise Appeal Records/Rough Trade, today unveiling the record’s track listing, artwork, and title track.
Whiteout was assembled over the course of five months. The band and a dream team consisting of Alexandr Vatagin (engineer for Kronos Quartett, Pauls Jets, Dives, Electric Indigo), Gerhard Potuznik (GD Luxxe, Mäuse, co-owner of Angelika Köhlermann, producer of Chicks On Speed), Alexander Lausch (engineer for Die Buben Im Pelz, Paul Plut, Mynth, The New Mourning), and Tobias Wöhrer (Leyya), were involved in producing, consulting, recording, mixing, and mastering the record. Remixes were made by industrial/dark ambient icons Brian Williams AKA Lustmord (Current 93, Nurse With Wound, SPK, Terror Against Terror) and Jarboe (Swans), two musicians who have had a fundamental impact on the work of PHAL:ANGST.
The music contained within Whiteout bears the hallmarks of an exceptionally individualistic, if not idiosyncratic, band. There are no “songs” in the traditional sense of the word; instead, there are sticky, cinematographic sound epics which meander through numerous atmospheres and temperaments. These are frequently dystopic, melancholic, but also hyper harmonic with a distinct penchant for romanticism. This time, distorted eruptions of rage have been reduced in favor of more reverbed Southern Gothic, dulcet metallophone, subtle dub breaks, and rhythmic vocal samples with stomping beats in slow motion. It’s a work that demands patience, quietude, and attention from its listeners… And possibly mental resilience. When the repetitive line, “So also ist das Sterben” (So this is what it’s like to die), from the album’s closing carries the listener beyond the realm of the living on a crescendo of noise and harmony, one can appreciate the cerebral magic of PHAL:ANGST’s sonic sphere. The artwork was designed using photos by Kurt Prinz, pictures that were partly featured in the book Sezierte Architektur (“dissected architecture”), only adding to the record’s disquieting vibe.
In advance of the release of Whiteout, PHAL:ANGST has unveiled a video for the record’s title track, now playing at Treble.
Comments the band of the video, “PHAL:ANGST’s video for their new album’s title track ‘Whiteout’ is a direct follow up to the video for the song ‘On The Run’ from the predecessor album Phase IV (Bloodshed666 Rec 2018). It’s about people and staring at them and their alienation. While ‘On The Run’ was focused on one person, and primarily about what could be called ‘teen angst,’ ‘Whiteout’ leaves more room for interpretation: from relative indifference to total bore-out, drug abuse, depression and anxiety, but maybe also tiny moments of empowerment. Sounds like the music of this band.”
Adds Treble, “Shot in black and white, it’s a progression taking place in the same living room, depicting two people listening to PHAL:ANGST while drinking, getting high, moving on to harder drugs, sinking into depression, and eventually being shocked awake. The song itself is a slow-burner, gradually escalating from a graceful and gentle ambient-pop intro, marked by gorgeous piano flourishes, into a heavy and noisy climax that goes out with a bang.”
Watch PHAL:ANGST’s “Whiteout” video via Treble at THIS LOCATION.
Whiteout will be released on CD, cassette, and digitally. Find EU preorders at THIS LOCATION. (US preorders will be available at a later date).
Whiteout Track Listing:
- Whiteout
- Severance
- Least Said, Soonest Mended
- What Rests Mute In Bright Corners
- Unhinged
- What A Time To Be Alive
- Unhinged (Lustmord Remix)
- A Tale Of Severance (Jarboe Remix)
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