WL//WH Premiere VLIMMER
Today, on August 25th, Vlimmer released his stunning new full-length album “Zerschöpfung” through Blackjack Illuminist Records. All things responsible for the label and the act is Alexander Leonard Donat, and together with the rest of his side projects, ASSASSUN, WHOLE, Fir Cone Children, and Feverdreamt, is making his own way through the wider alternative music scene with the most peculiar being this of Vlimmer.
Peculiar, because Donat uses Vlimmer for his most extravagant and darkwave-oriented experiments without ignoring to also include in there the rest of his musical passions like shoegaze, darkgaze, and post-punk of course. Peculiar, because Vlimmer is always way darker than the rest of his projects and because there he finds his own tuneful solitude. Music that is always quite cinematic and dark as the starry night of the Middle Ages, like the thick darkness with all new things waiting to eventually happen in time, Vlimmer is an ongoing endless adventure for him.
Before August 25, three singles appeared through 2023, all of them with bizarre b-sides too. “Platzwort” (track #5 in the album) on January 17 also features “Out Of Sight” initially written by Jason Pierce and recorded by Spiritualized. The single sounds like the core definition of the old firm darkwave music and is the door to the amazing new album.
May 5 came with “Fatalideal” (track #7 in the album) which also features “Race For The Prize” initially presented by Flaming Lips. The single here sounds like a tribute to the dark new-wave atmosphere of the ages, like the ‘unscrewed’ happy dance of the punks in the batcaves of that era.
And August 11 revealed the third single of the record, “Makks” (track #3 in the album) which also features “Knife Prty” which was initially delivered by Deftones. This “Makks” is probably the most ‘radio’ song in “Zerschöpfung” LP, and a very good reason to start dancing.
All these give the stigma of the album, but there are many more that make the new LP a great undertaking with great results too. Try the dark wild dance of “Flurfall”, then go to “Teerritt” for a throwback to the first ‘ingredients’ of pure new wave music, and turn up the volume at the “Gipfelluft” for the beloved industrial ‘neubautenism’, and the same industrialism will nail you happily again in the tardy style of “Todesangst”, and cheers to the opening intro “Losig” which with a remix can become a glorious track to dance to its pressure, and the closing track of the album, “Austrocknung” that many of you will hear it as the coolest song of the album and you are probably right.
The entire “Zerschöpfung” LP is a tapestry that resonates with both the nostalgic echoes of the 80s and the bleak uncertainty of our modern pre-apocalyptic times like a merciless soundtrack of our decadent brave world that in the mind of Vlimmer this world can offer a little hope with expectations toward a brighter dark future. I must also inform you that you can have the album with the optional 32-minute bonus disc that includes 6 more tracks and you can get it all in the following formats; Digital, CD, Cassette, and Box Set.
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Written by Loud Cities’ Mike
