Gamiani — Disciplining Eugenie
Gamiani started in 2016, and is one of the projects of Johan Strömvall Hammarstedt- who has a few wall/ noise projects to his name such as Rien, JSH, J.S.H- he also runs the excellent Ominous Recordings label. The project focuses/ themes its release around erotic literature and fetishes from between the 1800 & 1900- I’ll have to admit early releases by this project felt somewhat unoriginal & predictable fetish focused wall craft- really lacking the creativity & flare of say someone like Anonymous Masturbaudioum. Thankful as they’ve gone along the quality has improved of the ‘walls’, and I pleased to say Disciplining Eugenie follows this tread- to offer up two dense & punishing slices of wall-craft, which while lacking a hugely unequal take on wall-craft, are nicely tense & pressured.
So the first side of the tape is taken up by the track “Ah, You Bitch, I'll Teach You How To Be A Libertine!”. This sees a tightly wrapped & weaved mix of rolling low-end hacks, which are blended with thinner static bound stabbings- together these create this thick continually cascading weave of sound. At times it feels like the hacks are becoming more rapid, or the static stabbings are becoming more frenzied- but I think this is mainly a trick of the wall. I think there is a little smidge of movement present here, but I don’t think it’s as much as it seems.
Flipping over to the second side & we have the track “…Am I A Whore Enough Now?”. And of the two tracks here I’d say this is the more interesting & effective- the ‘wall’ brings together a set & distant tunnel like drone, with a top crust of skittering 'n' jumping jittering static patterns. There’s a brutal yet almost playful feel to this track, and the skittering elements nicely come together to create a most captivating ‘wall’, which kept me focused through-out its runtime. I think this track is pretty fully fixed in it’s unfold, yet you once again get some fairly effective audio trickery occurring- so at moments it sounds like the skittering & jumping elements are becoming more detailed & at times brutally sprightly
So in conclusion Disciplining Eugenie is a worthy enough ninety minute trip into dense fetish focused wall matter- I can’t say it blew me away, but equally there where moments here when I was really entranced by the walls. I think it’s just down to this project not clicking with me as much as some of Hammarstedt’s other work- for example, I pretty much dig everything he’s put out under the Rien name. The release came in an edition of 30 copies, and as of writing the label still have few copies left…so if this sounds like your thing, act sooner than later to score a copy.