N - Vreden (2018)

May 2018 marks the release of not less than two new N records on Denovali records. First in line is the new solo record N(44) 'Vreden', featuring the live set N played on the very last Denovali festival at Weststadthalle, Essen, using a bigger rig with two halfstacks for a very monolithic sound, perfectly recorded by Andreas Brinke of [ B O L T ]. In contrast to the more symphonic sounding records like N(43) 'Anklam', the three new tracks N wrote especially for this evening seem to be more stripped at the first glance, focussing on the vibrating connection between his guitar and the two-amp setup, with the multiple layers of sound hanging like wires in the air between the two amps, even in the moments of highest density. Especially when 'Vreden 2' opens up to a vast field of a dark and misty landscape, the guitar and the reverb of the seemingly endless room around blend into each other, like a perfect symbiosis where you can't tell anymore what the player does and what is just the answer of the room... The overall feeling of a deep melancholia peaks with the closing track 'Vreden NACHT', slowly evolving from the last trails of reverb of the track before, with the long super slow and lonely melody of the last requiem coming out of some sparse bass rumble...

The second record is N(52) + Dirk Serries 'SC00', finally. Dirk and N intended to work together since a very long time and sent soundfiles to each other. But it was quite a long time until N(42) + Dirk Serries 'Kehr' became real: a hybrid between a split and a collaboration, with N having played all music using the guitar / fx / amps setup and Dirk Serries doing sound-treatments, arrangement and collaging. This album was the point to get it started and now we present you 'SC00', the first album of the Scatterwound trilogy. After a try-out as a small run on tape, released by Midira records, the two tracks are now available on vinyl for the first time. Recorded during a soundcheck way back in time at Franziskus Kirche at Cologne, the music that was sleeping on a hard-disk somewhere in the archives had already really started the collaboration without us knowing about that... With some sparse melodies playing around each other on the first track, building up a wall of sound on the second one, without any hint who played what in the end, the music is raw and energetic, atmospheric and dark; just two guitars without any overdubs that work together as one multi-string, multi amp instrument...