We’re Falling
In their debut vinyl release on Denmark’s seminal Posh Isolation imprint, White Void has given us everything—from noise-laden music that ranges from a tempo that is mid-paced to one that is dance-floor fast, We’re Falling is dominated by a blurry abrasive loudness which can really only be referred to as beautiful noise. Yes, when a ‘rock’ project—no matter how conditional this collocation is when applied here—makes it to Posh Isolation, there’s always something more at the ready lurking behind the veil.
Frederik Lind Köppen-led White Void can be found alternating from slightly agitated shoegazing to intense noise-rock with heavily reverberated vocals that carry with them a strong post-punk feel. It leaves me unsure as to whether or not We’re Falling is a record that you should listen to at home, even if played on full volume. This specific style of heavily deformed rock sound—which is characterized by a bass guitar that is elevated as the only semi-clean instrument in the mix, rising out of a maelstrom of otherwise noise-infused instrumentation—is better suited to filling a poorly lit club. This is the appropriate venue for which you’d fully be able to fall for White Void’s music—when surrounded by other bodies who obey the sounds and textures that swirl around them, tracing the build-ups, climaxes, and often quite danceable rhythmic decisions.
Frederik Lind Köppen
I hope Köppen—who’s also the drummer in another recently successful Posh Isolation four-piece in Communions, and who was once a Zero Mission member—finds the necessary motivation to turn this solo, bedroom / studio act into a full-scale band. I really believe that’s how and when pieces like ‘Confessions on Bed Edges’, ‘Some Days Are Better than Others’, ‘Beheading a Snake’, and especially the closing ‘Altar’, will truly shine. And these aren’t the only pieces worth noting: Who doesn’t love the casual slow-dancing-on-raw-guitar noise?
You can rarely say this about an album, but not a single filler track is to be found on We’re Falling.
There is only one thing that I found the album to be missing that distracted me from an otherwise full experience, and that was not having the opportunity to at least take a look at Frederik’s lyrics. I understand that Frederik’s voice is treated like a texture on We’re Falling, as it is also heavily effected and distanced from the listener on purpose, but I’d still have enjoyed another, ultimately more intuitive peek inside Mr. White Void’s head.
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Track List:
A1) Beheading a Snake
A2) Tengils Universal Son-Father
A3) Stillborn Saviour
A4) Going Downtown – Scaffold Martyrdom
B1) Confessions on Bed Edges
B2) Some Days are Better than Others
B3) She is Falling
B4) Altar
Rating: 8.5/10
Written by: Angel S.
Label: Posh Isolation (Denmark) / Posh Isolation 130 / 12″ LP
Lo-Fi / Post-punk / Noise Rock
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