AETHENOR - En Form For Blå

"AETHENOR is comprised of STEPHEN OMALLEY (SUNN0))), KTL), DANIEL OSULLIVAN (ULVER, MOTHLITE, GUAPO), KRISTOFFER RYGG (ULVER) and STEVE NOBLE (N.E.W., COMPANY, etc.). En Form For Bla documents the continued evolution of this unlikely collective, a collision of players from various avant, improv, metal, and other" threads who together make a unique and arresting sound. Documenting three gigs in Oslo recorded in 2010, the album is deep and weird, with liquid sounds juddering around the occasionally identifiable percussion or Rhodes motif. In the evolution from a side project / studio group to a frequently working live act, Aethenor kept their sound intact, taking the musique-concrete-style transitions and "whats that sound" ethos of their three previous efforts directly to the stage. Noble, having spent a couple of decades playing drums with Derek Bailey and other well-known UK improvisers, moves the music along subtly, keeping much of the focus on the burbling sound mass. OMalleys guitar, an instrument of extreme viscera in Sunn0))), is used with restraint, providing occasional low menace but mostly mixing it up with OSullivans thematic lines and Ryggs sound treatments. The overall effect is atmospheric rather than sedate-something like a modern, small group version of Miles Davis classic "He Loved Him Madly" or Nurse with Wounds Spiral Insana. Other than perhaps Supersilent, no one else is working this sonic vocabulary today. Designed by OMalley, the deluxe double-LP version is pressed on white vinyl and packaged with printed inner sleeves; the CD is in a card folio. Live dates planned to follow albums release." -VHF.