What sort of music do you get if you mix David Wolfenden aka Wolfie of Red Lorry, Yellow Lorry and Caroline Blind? A band called Voidant and perhaps a style you were not expecting. With an illustrious roll call of contributing artists, on baritone guitars Rich Witherspoon (The Wake), bass guitars Simon Ding Archer (Red Lorry Yellow Lorry, 1919) and Ade Clark (Black Chapel) and pianist David Gregory.
The first track, “Heart/Feather” has a tribal taste to it and the reference is rooted in Egyptian mythology. When you die, your heart that holds your sins, will be weighed against the feather that is Maat (goddess of truth and justice), watched by Anubis and if found unworthy, eaten by Ammit the Devourer. Hence there is an Eastern flare in the guitar work.
The single “La Loba” is an ode to the wolf. An implored request for the wolf to finish the remains after Blind has sung that she could not continue and succumbed to the snow. A slow love song to be one with the wilderness.
Whispers and an insistent synth line that wanders through your head in “Phantom Ex“. The shadow of a previous relationship, that took a toll on someone whom you dearly want to see you as a potential healing lover. “Ghosted” has a great incongruity between the piano lines and guitar work, giving a slightly unhinged atmosphere.
“SG Truth” has a trip hop feel fused with a modern jazz sensibility. It keeps you off balance as it weaves it’s way. Dreams of the “Summer ‘78“, of Irish migrants fleeing across the sea, which for some would be their last journey. A story of memories perhaps stored in your DNA and like all good stories it is sung in a tone to lure you in and feels as delicate as a woven spiderweb.
There are two cover on this album and they sit side by side. “7 And 7 Is” was originally performed by Love in 1966 and also covered by Alice Cooper in 1981 and The Ramones in 1993. There is this wonderful juxtoposition of Blind’s punk vocals and the surreal electronics. It’s a great cover of this proto-punk classic.
In 1964, Buffy Saint Marie wrote and released “Universal Soldier“, which later became a hit for both Donovan and Glenn Campbell. A song about seeing things from another perspective and ultimately an anti-war piece. This is so tranquil with Blind near singing a cappella, if it wasn’t for the percussion and low grade whirring beneath.
“Vortex” is the last track and it is a little transcendental with the hypnotic beat and guitar transitioning from a bit country, then a bit funky and then wailing. It is a rather groovy way to finish the album because as we all know, the eye of the storm is the calmest place to be.
Recorded between Leeds in the UK and New Jersey, USA, this is not the normal gothic fare but rather a darker form of storytelling which is sometimes trance inducing in its beats and minimalism. Some things can be better felt in the spaces that aren’t filled in. Voidant do this so well as well as also breathing new life into classics and I encourage you to have a listen.
Onyx Music Reviews 