WL//WH Video Of The Day: THE SICK MAN OF EUROPE “Moderate Air Quality” (Official Video)

WL//WH Video Of The Day THE SICK MAN OF EUROPE

After entrancing us at the end of last year’s debut video/single “Consumption”, London, UK-based Kraut-fueled Post-punk one-man project returns, fresh from affiliation with Yorkshires’ forward-thinking The Leaf Label, with his debut 3-track EP, “Moderate Air Quality”, paired with DIY visuals for the title track, simultaneously announcing his support slot in the March leg of Snapped Ankles upcoming UK tour.

Emerging from London’s underground music scene, The Sick Man Of Europe is distinctly monochrome in its outlook. Each note counts in this climate – economical but played with absolute precision and conviction. Propelled forward by machines and seeking solace in repetition. There are echoes of the post-punk and European art rock pioneers at the cusp of the 80s, but re-tooled for the present. The same fears. Looking for answers or something to believe in, but finding more questions in an age of absolutes.

A pitch-perfect immersion into the centripetal force sparks off by Neu!-like hypnotic, driving motor kicks, fringed with a Peter Hook-esque emotive ascending bassline, “Moderate Air Quality” starts with a droning slow build of anxiety-laden, taut heartbeats, rolling percussive punctuations, and minimal magnetic vocals that simply repeat “breath in, breath out”. And then to lift and swell, around the two-and-a-half-minute mark, lead by the relentless propulsive energy of crisp motorik drum loops alongside sonorously throbbing, wistful low ends, surrounded by both mesmeric and rousing textures, woven by vibrant glistening guitar slivers, pulsing glaring synths and wafting brassy motifs, to coalesce over monochromatic baritones, explaining the toxic effects of mass consumption, before slowly fading, exaggerated, into a swirling vortex of oblivion.

The Official Video, by The Sick Man Of Europe and Jamie Reeves, sets a television on a round black table in front of a large movie screen to create a both mesmeric and disjointed effect by showing two different shapes dancing on each panel. Basic computational geometries spin, divide, and stack amid disruptive blurry interferences, until finally, the two visuals get stuck in a feedback loop of mindless repetition, seamlessly syncing with the dystopic theme of the soundtrack.

The Sick Man of Europe‘s debut Moderate Air Quality EP is out now, via The Leaf Label, on all the major digital platforms and is available to pre-order on a limited run of cassettes.

Keep up with The Sick Man of Europe: