With guests ranging from Lycia’s Mike VanPortfleet, Jon DeRosa (Arktika) and Jessica Bailiff; Brian John Mitchell’s experimental group Vlor has been part of the bedrock foundation of Silber Media in both output and style, setting the tone of what is to be expected from the little known and thus greatly underappreciated label.
Six Winged, Vlor’s latest release, still manages to fit perfectly into the Silber cannon, opening with the short and ambient focused track ‘I Have Left Home’ before slowly moving into equally familiar territory with ‘Without Blame’, a minimal piece that encompasses the laid back and meditative feeling that ambient & drone are renowned for producing in the listener.
‘Never to be Rebuilt’ changes in sound slightly, adding a slight mysticism into the so far ambient affair; a precursor to the album’s soon to be apparent fluctuations in genre as straight after, we are treated to ‘She Goes Out With Boys’, a much more slowcore affair with as ever brilliant vocal contributions from Jessica Bailiff.
‘Tolerate the Wicked’ marks a darker side of the album, brimming with nuances of sound that would work well accompanying a desolate mise-en-scene for almost any post-apocalyptic film you can think of.
‘Watch Me Bleed’ meanwhile will no doubt shock you, thinking on first listening that another band’s track has snuck its way into the mix: however this is far from the case and here, in this raw and fun garage rock track, Vlor provide a unique and refreshing intermission from the introverted sound that Six Winged is dominated by.
‘Will I See You Again’ throws another curve ball, though of an altogether different variety, this time in the style of a minimal yet alluring acapella composition, preluding the bleak and faintly hostile ambience of ‘Maybe You Should Chew On My Fist’, no doubt helped in its stand offish nature by its less than restrained title.
Recorded over several continents and with several very talented collaborators, Six Winged is a jigsaw puzzle of different styles and sounds that somehow all seem to work when put together. In fact what with most of the collaborators appearing with Mitchell being involved with Silber already in some shape or form, Vlor’s latest album speaks not only volumes in its own right but as a beacon of the talent inherent within the label. A label that I for one don’t tire of championing whenever the opportunity arises.
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