Asva — Presences in Absences
As is usually the case with artists that transcend that fine line between genres, the difficulty lies with trying to put the compositions into words that express their true nature. I found myself feeling this all the way through listening to the album, mainly as the band tend to be bundled in with all that is ‘doom’, especially with front man G. Stuart Dahlquist’s involvement with such giants of the scene like Sunn, Goatsnake and of course Burning Witch. This is most certainly not a doom album, not in the traditional sense anyway, the pieces presented are impeccably crafted whilst retaining their organic feel, incorporating psychedelic, meditative elements alongside the typical heavy droning bass and guitars which are used in much more subtle ways…instead the main driving force of most of the tracks is various types of organ.
Opener ‘A Bomb In That Suitcase’ creeps in with slowly rising organ tones intertwined with very heavy and deep bass guitar, whispered vocals which break into chant, before the drums kick in signalling the onset of heavy slabs of guitar and particularly effective use of trumpet towards the end. The whole piece is stunning, constant shifts in colour always keeping your attention, never letting you drift too far off, a very reflective track.
The second effort is startlingly sublime and mellow after the ever increasing intensity of the opener, before an off kilter bass line drops in accompanied by whispers of guitar and further organ sounds which add to the stunning detail that is ever prevalent throughout the album. A very subtle darkness is infused into the track and the whole piece acts as a nice precursor to the sprawling behemoth of the album’s title track which follows.
Similar to the opener ‘Presences in Absences' focuses all the attention onto the interplay between organ and bass guitar with short rising sequences compelling you into a deeply introspective, meditative state. Slight drum movements and deep guitar blasts add to the stunning depth of the composition, the placement of all the contributing sounds within the mix is astounding and further enhances your overall experience of the track. As with most tracks of this type the building of intensity carries on till the piece takes on a more traditional structure as the drums finally come together before dropping back down to its foundation components of organ and bass. Closing track ‘New World Order Rising’ places more prominence on the juxtaposition between traditional vocals and chants, building on an ever shifting sequence of its base parts which again incorporates trumpet to great effect.
The whole album is completely immersive and compelling, the musicianship on display is amazing, really showing off the well thought out and deep compositional skills of the act. Asva have successfully created an album which really does cross boundaries whilst still retaining a very drone like feel, effortlessly drawing you in and never losing your attention throughout. I could not recommend this release highly enough, definitely album of the year for me thus far, go forth and seek out sweet salvation!