(2021) Worriedaboutsatan - Providence


Review:
Instead of appearing on worriedaboutsatan‘s This Is It Forever label, the group’s latest, Providence, arrives by way of the Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK-based Box Records. Of course calling worriedaboutsatan a group these days is a bit of misnomer, now that Gavin Miller’s the sole member following Tom Ragsdale’s 2019 departure. Providence, which follows last year’s n5MD release Time Lapse, captures Miller in a rather contemplative frame of mind with eight tracks dialing down the satanic side of the group’s sound. With him treating the project like an ongoing lab experiment, worriedaboutsatan, it would seem, is still very much amenable to change. That said, the directions pursued on Providence feel like natural extensions of what’s come before, even if a surprising twist or two occurs during the forty-eight-minute ride. Lest one think “John McGinn Versus Norwich,” for example, refers to some seventeenth-century incident involving witch burning and religious fanaticism, McGinn is, in fact, a Scottish professional footballer and Norwich the Norfolk-based English professional football club. The titular connection to soccer aside, the track’s a slowly awakening atmospheric drone whose gradual intensification could, were one so inclined, be read as a replication in sound of mounting game tension. The murky reverberations of “Stück Für Stück” undergo a shift in character when a slow house pulse rises to the surface and fading echoes of raves gone by emerge alongside the crackle of decaying vinyl. At the start of “On Your Own,” a rubbery techno throb animates reverb-drenched guitar textures to initiate the track’s incremental expansion into a quietly euphoric raver. worriedaboutsatan’s trademark melancholy is here, to be sure, but countered somewhat by the ecstasy shared not long ago by crowds of clubgoers. Miller’s talent for crafting a dynamic slow-build is demonstrated a number of times, though perhaps never more effectively than during “Stórar Franskar.” Advancing from a dub-drenched opening, the piece morphs into a high-altitude reverie that draws from vaporous ambient and euphoric techno in equal measure. As its nine minutes progress, one feels as if one’s gliding above the clouds in rapturous daze. Two-thirds its length, the concluding “Just To Feel Something” revisits the club for one final exercise in rapturous swoon. Electronics and electric guitar are central to the album’s character, the latter in particular imbuing the material with a humanizing presence. Miller’s sensitivity to texture and timbre are at a supremely high level throughout, with every track assembled with intense attention to detail and effect. Some kind of aural poetry, for instance, is achieved in “Für Immer” when the combination of its serene aura and lulling rhythms prove so intoxicating. The conviction with which Miller’s crafted the eight pieces suggests worriedaboutsatan’s story is far from over.





Track Listing:
1.John McGinn Versus Norwich 05:08
2.Stück Für Stück 05:33
3.On Your Own 07:44
4.Für Immer 07:35
5.Everything Is Fine 02:19
6.Stórar Franskar 08:59
7.Stop Calling My Phone 04:32
8.Just To Feel Something 06:07


Media Report:
Genre: ambient
Country: UK
Format: FLAC
Format/Info: Free Lossless Audio Codec, 16-bit PCM
Bit rate mode: Variable
Channel(s): 2 channels
Sampling rate: 44.1 KHz
Bit depth: 16 bits