Lennard Zander - And The Mermaids

 

Released: March 31

In his first release in several years, Berlin-based artist Lennard Zander takes us on a succinct yet lurid and engaging journey through a landscape of dark distorted textures and accompanying atmospherics. It appears that Zander’s primary method of creating these soundscapes is the electric guitar with plenty of tasteful distortion, but the strange and unsettling sounds that join the guitar are what really makes these compositions feel like another realm. The way in which he places these sounds around the guitar at the center adds this incredible amount of depth to the listening experience. It feels equal parts cinematic suspense and equal parts harsh noise, keeping this balance that prevents it from being aggravating or feeling like passive floating. 

I think the second track on the album, “Silk” is really where the dynamic starts coming into full focus. The intro track is wonderful, if not a bit more sparse. But “Silk” starts out with that dark and simmering ambiance with a deep rumbling sound hanging just below the seething soft static. But when the guitar makes its entrance with a long flourish that rides and reverberates, that is when the unique tension begins. I love the extremely airy textures that float into the mix later on as well, giving the track a fully fleshed vision that is dark, dreary and also incredibly robust. 

“Olmec” takes a similar approach but puts the distorted guitar swells more in the background. Instead, it puts the focus on the atmospherics until later on in the track. Then the guitar returns in much different way, giving us a sort of jazz soling aesthetic while still maintaining this dreary and dark atmosphere all around. The conflict between these elements makes for a nicest bit of ear candy I’ve heard in a while. I thoroughly enjoyed it along with the rest of this brief album .