Vinyl curiosity from an Italian project based in Treviso who goes under the name Holy Similaun. Going by website and past releases, they deliberately cultivate an aura of mystery and since 2017 have experimented with formats, cross-bred genres, odd pressings…in pursuit of their singular aims, which may have something to do with suffering from a continual sense of confusion or dissociation from the world and the human race. Or causing such sensations to happen.
On this 12-incher Radicor Al Flort, Espert On’ill Il Erb, Aor Raetia (KOHLHAAS KHS026) there is indeed a pleasing but hard-to-follow jumble of sounds, events, fleeting moments, and not-quite-concrete evanescences, vaguely situated in the area of experimental electronica and synthesis, ambient swirlery, drones, and occasional tiny gobbets of ugly, distorted noise. In comes Archipel to add spoken word voice elements, in a tone that is extremely cryptic and at times even quite stern, as if whispering the secrets of the universe in our ear while simultaneously berating us for not paying attention sooner. The total effect, or meaning, of all this disjointed noodling is extremely hard to appraise. There’s also harp playing supplied by rouge-ah, slightly obscured to to conjure a dreamy mood.
It might help to listen to Holy Similaun’s earlier works, or one of numerous collaborations with such names as Furtherset and Giant Swan. Or listen to one of their aliases, such as Paradoxes, who released some odd records for Prehistoric Silence in recent years. In like manner, the cover art is an image we can barely see, let alone decode. Baffling. (03/05/2023)