If analogue mixing, heavily textured sounds, and modern warfare are your cup of tea, then Vatican Shadow is the thing for you.
One of the many projects of Dominick Fernow aka Purient, Vatican Shadow is a blend of industrial noise and dark ambient electronic and the latest addition to Fernow’s impressive fifteen year career.
Fernow’s multi-media approach to music production has been a cornerstone of his label Hospital Productions, mixing winter-scapes with Russian war literature and heavily influenced by the current American war in the Middle East.
Bearing this in mind I wasn’t surprised when I walked into Sleazy’s a little late to find a dark room, bass over bass ricocheting off the walls, and a slightly cheesy projection of sensationalist war themed newspaper clippings over the stage.
Fernow himself appeared as a black silhouette slightly off to the side, entirely engrossed in his own music while an eclectic crowd try hard to move to the wall of noise and static interludes, instead focusing on the beat that is forceful enough to slow your thought process significantly.
The interest in the performance is not in his mixing abilities, with most songs abruptly jarring with the next and rather awkwardly fading into each other.
However when you see that the only equipment Fernow is using consists of an analogue tape deck and a mixer (with the help of an iPod every now and again) it becomes harder to critique the clumsy changeovers.
The significance of the show lies completely in the use of texture, when you think that no more bass is possible, he subtly slips in another layer until the house speakers are almost overwhelmed.
On the noise scale from one to 10; one being the Beach Boys and 10 being the infamous Sunn O))) (who did in fact cause the house speakers to explode when I last saw them) Vatican Shadow would rate a comfortable eight.
The same pulsating effect of 2012’s Ghosts of Chechnya is evident, but each song is distorted to the extent that it is difficult to determine which track is which, if indeed Fernow was aiming for a track-by-track approach.
More likely is the case that he was simply mixing what he felt was right, at times getting so engrossed that he steps to the side of the decks onto the open stage, backlit by projections of balaclava-clad militants, and dances as if no one is watching: admirable as the audience remain reasonably static.
But Fernow’s trance-like enthusiasm is not unique among noise artists, who tend to have a habit of worshipping at the altar of their own music.
With song titles such as ‘Final Victory: Christ Became A Man And Had Truly Assumed Human Nature’ from 2011’s more ambient release Kneel Before Religious Icons, Vatican Shadow is a step apart from fellow Modern Love labelmates Andy Stott and Demdike Stare, both of whom also utilise minimal beats and otherworldly samples.
For some the extra-contextual theme of conflict that embellishes Vatican Shadow’s music can be a bit longwinded, but it doesn’t detract from the quality of the music, if anything a little too sporadic in a live setting but ultimately a mesmerizing listen.
Words: Alexandra Embiricos
