Wednesday, April 15, 2020

EP Review: Reconvalescent "Vestigial" (Machine Man Records) by Dave Wolff

Band: Reconvalescent
Location: Zaječar
Country: Serbia
Genre: Electronic/industrial rock
EP: Vestigial
Label: Machine Man Records
Format: Digital (Bandcamp, Spotify)
Release date: March 27, 2020
There is an extraterrestrial theme and an air of mystery permeating Reconvalescent’s new four song EP, bringing to mind classic and contemporary science fiction like “The Day The Earth Stood Still,” “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” and “The X-Files.” A comparison even closer to the mark would be the classic eras of “The Twilight Zone” and “The Outer Limits”, two TV programs that were minimalist but effective for their commentary and use of ambiance to make us think. The mystery comes from the driving force of this solo project, who refers to himself only as Vessel and arranged these tracks as if they comprised a detailed transmission from somewhere in the outer reaches. In character he claims to be from another galaxy light years from ours and seeks to educate humans on the inhabitants of his galaxy. There are no indications of who they are or what their purpose is. Thus humanity has no way of knowing if they’re beneficent or hostile. We don’t even know they came to communicate in our languages. All we know for certain is they are the last survivors of what was once a thriving culture and have apparently been watching humanity for a long time. As the first track “Vestigial” indicates, it’s possible they see human beings making the same mistakes their ancestors made many millennia ago, and wish for us to avert the disasters that can result from them. As a songwriter and lyricist he is leaving the answers to these questions open to the listener’s imagination, providing the opportunity for self-analysis and soul searching. The cold ambiance (representing the long journey to reach our galaxy), the electronic effects (representing the transmissions being sent to us) and the strident, atmospheric, industrial constituents of Vessel’s music (representing the messages themselves) accords us a blank canvas on which we can paint physical representations of what thoughts or ideas come to us. All this is arranged in a way that ignores traditional song and verse structure in favor of something progressive and primal, with a coarse sound and penetrating fry screaming to leave an indelible mark on the collective consciousness. This is an EP that requires you to be objectively responsive. –Dave Wolff

Lineup:
Vessel: Vocals, all instruments.

Track list:
1. Vestigial
2. Seed Will Grow
3. Transmission7 (His Activation Has Begun)
4. Defender of Tyrants



Singles

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