Melbourne‘s melancholic synth-punk trio Banish, comprised of Christopher Gray (bass, synth, drum programming,) Sarah McKenna (vocals, loops, synth,) and René Schaefer (guitar), fresh from releasing their debut album “Control Yourself”, is ready to share the video, directed by Melbourne artist Don Gray, for the track “Simple Animal”, WL//WH is pleased to premiere.
Conceived and recorded throughout 2019, the eight tracks revolve around the changing temperatures and the wistful, far away longings that accompany life in the Southern Hemisphere.
Structured around the minimal snap of a drum machine, gradually bass, synths and minimalist guitar lines add levels of melody and textures. The final ingredient is voice. Acting like another instrument in the mix, vocals metamorphose from whispered suggestions to densely layered atmospheres, to full-blown intensity.
“Simple Animal” is a five-line mantra which takes aim at the human tendency to divert from rationality when a situation becomes challenging.
I’m just a simple animal
I no longer have any control
Over my body
Over my thoughts
My signals distort.
The dripping razor-sharp tension, instinct, and mysterious dread created by a dense concoction of subtly hissing hypnotically tinny percussive patterns, ominously pulsing bassline, vibrating droning synth tones, and obsessively discordant guitar cuts, deeply charge provocative, visceral female vocals ranging from whispered suggestions to full-blown primal howls, to form an intense and intriguing sensual mood with a common thread rooted in the primitiveness of the human condition.
An apt way to initiate listeners into the beguiling and enervating soundscapes of Banish.
Strikingly minimal video, directed by Melbourne artist Don Gray, shot in stark black and white, shadows sculpt human hands caressing, teasing, and exploring each other in an intimate courtship dance. Faces blur through the striking contrasts of light and darkness, revealing a raw emotional intensity as fingers press deeply, contorting expressions and hiding an inhibited existence before shifting to a gradual release of slow sensual suggestions. Negative photography, static overlays, and wavy lines dismantle and smear the bipolar imagery evoking an unsettling intimacy and intense primal fear while the choppy fluid motion of energy evolves.
Banish‘s debut full-length “Control Yourself” is available as a luxury edition Cassette, complete with fold-out lyric sheet, as well as digital download via Bandcamp. Streaming is possible on Spotify, Apple Music and a myriad of other streaming services and platforms.
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