Kleistwahr — The Battlefield Is Everywhere

The Battlefield Is Everywhere is a very difficult album to pigeonhole, as it not only often switches between sonically ambient, noisy, and dense. It also liberally blends 'n' blurs genres such as synth drone, prog/ post-rock, shoegaze, noise, and dense/droned-out singer-songwriter fare.

Kleistwahr is the solo project of Gary Mundy(Ramleh / Broken Flag Records). It’s been active since the early 1980’s- releasing to date eighteen albums. With this and the last five or so albums being released on Fourth Dimension Records.

The CD release comes presented in a glossy mini gatefold- on its outside we have a black frame/ black text design, with on the front cover a painted cross artwork. Inside, we have layered/ abstract artwork- taking in line grids, with a multicoloured wash over the top.

We open with the track “Feathering” which starts off like a meeting between a droned Pink Floyd and a synth-based Burzum track.  Later on, shimmeringly chanting male vocals appear, with the whole thing taking on a folk meets warbling ambient feel. This is followed up by “Volume Tortures (i) At Work (ii) At Home”- which blends sneering and glum noise tones, with a slow drift into washed-out/ mellow guitar drone.

Moving into the second half of the record, we go from the tolling-but-very murky guitar tones and sing-song sounding like they're from an 80’s synth pop track vocals of the title track. With the album playing out with hazed-but-steady beat meets warbling-to-piping almost euphoric drone of “Human Contact” which sounds like a 1970’s Brian Eno track hollowed and numbly spun out.

The Battlefield Is Everywhere will appeal to those looking for something a bit more distinctive/ off-kilter with the droned/ washed out side of things.