Let’s get this out of the way first - I am not even slightly into autotune.
But I do also trust the reasoning and judgment of Vivant de Non in its application on Blumarine and Bupe and, more importantly, came to the conclusion that it is important to challenge myself in what I listen to and also release. Being deafened in an echo chamber of your own creation is surely not healthy.
I have been a longtime follower of Viv’s various projects, I’d even talked to them about releasing one of their earliest solo incarnations when AST first started, but unfortch that never came to pass. I don’t know if they are comfortable in connecting their past work with Vivant de Non, so will leave it at that. Their past work always felt unmoored from what was happening around them, future-striving in the best way possible. Viv is currently tied to the experimental post-punk duo, Property, with treasured ol’ mate of AST, Marijn Degenaar (Circular Ruins) who recently did the cracking Water Temple LP on Alter.
BandB maps the borders of future downer pop, equal parts sharded soundscraping and synthesised songcraft. It’s six songs forefront strummed guitar while electronic sinkholes open up around their drifting chords and, yea, autotuned vox build up in calcified layers on top. The result is a sound every bit as confounding and uneasy as the mid-pandemic, Australian bible belt context that saw its recording.
Altered States, 2023