WL//WH Track-By-Track Album Deus Faust ‘Weltengeist’
Cover Art by JJD (Soft Riot)
Almost two years after their debut “What I Saw”, transatlantic darkwave project Deus Faust is back with the long-awaited second album “Weltengeist”.
“Weltengeist” translates as “world spirit” which is a metaphysical principle of the Hegelian philosophy and a term often used in the German literature of the Enlightenment era, among others by Schiller and Goethe – who has inspired the duo’s name with his famous drama Faust.
The album’s title and the concept get an additional meaning when seen in context to the EP “Geisterwelt “ (released in March and reviewed by Mike here), which translates as “spirit world”. This word-play with the titles showcases the symbolist approach of Deus Faust and puts these two releases in the context of the dichotomy Romanticism – Enlightenment. A similar analogy can be found in the duo’s name (among many other encrypted details, keep in mind that the German word “Faust” means “fist” in English).
While “What I Saw” was a quite danceable and introspective release with clear influences from synthpop and synthwave, “Weltengeist” goes in a different direction: Raymond Nelson creates deep industrial soundscapes and rhythms, adorned with strikingly evocative piano notes, that buzz, rumble, soothe, envelop and chime, as to heighten and underlie the intimacy and emotional struggle revealed in André Savetier’s cryptic lyrics and the unconventional charm and allure from vocal style.
Inspired narratives from literature, myths, poetry, history, and popular culture come together to form a lyrical and vocal character struggling in dark subconscious fear and emotional human frailty.
Aphegesis
Introduced by the arcane atmospheric soundscapes of the title track, uncanny harpsichord-like strings, percolating bassline and sinister swells of synth simmer around haunted, whispered male vocals dripping in magnetic inquisitive charm, become a comforting companion for dark obsessions, in an intimate portrait of a storyteller on a maddening quest for the “one tale I’ve never heard before.”
1000 Nights
Humming and eerie synth drifts along with poignant piano drops drawing blood from buried wounds, in a plea for the immortal wisdom and betrayal of Scheherazade, “the greatest storyteller of all time.”
Missing Pieces
Interspersed by moving wistful piano melodies, momentum switches gears dramatically with intense vocalizations agitated by bittersweet racing memories of an unforgettable innocence, mixed with painful regret left hanging in a helpless purgatory with “hope that it will last, but fear that it won’t.”
Hotspur
Charged by industrialized clanging rhythms and ominously skipping bassline, dramatic bright icy synth stabs cloud the pain of our tragic hero disillusioned by fate’s erratic flow.
Vertigo
Extreme, lashing vocals cling to the warm comfort of chaos and indecision in a dynamic song propelled by splashing punchy rhythms and haunted by glowing creepy piano melodies.
Heart-Beat Me
Hectic rhythms, turbulent glaring airy synth, and swirling piano notes frame a beautifully dark duet with the striking soulful vocals of Marta Raya wept in broken dreams, missed chances, and undying love, “lost in the river of your heartbeat”.
Telesto XIII
Resounding hitting beats, hypnotically gurgling bassline, and glossy uncanny piano chords bloom a new hope distorted in the deformed reflections of shame, judgment, and distrust.
The End of Everything
Nihilistic pessimism plagues the foreboding finale inspired by WW1, as Apocalyptic uncertainty hangs over current World Affairs, leaving the protagonist once again floundering in fates misfortune shrouded in achingly gleaming flashes of frigid synth weeps.
Deus Faust‘s digital sophomore album “Weltengeist” is due to be released today, June 6, 2020, through the new dark alternative music collective Wave Noir.
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Written with the precious collaboration of Catt Gillette.
