XENO & OAKLANDER - Via Negativa
LP (100g)
Pre-order - Released 15 November 2024
DAIS
Date of release: Nov 15 2024
The eighth and latest slate of refined retro-futuristic synth-pop by Liz Wendelbo and Sean McBride aka Xeno & Oaklander is named after and inspired by "the study of what not to do, a negative image of a positive, the other side, the other:" 'Via Negativa (in the doorway light)'. Recorded in the fall of 2023 at their modernist Connecticut home fashioned into a two-story synthesizer laboratory and mixing studio, the album is uniquely visionary in spirit yet precision in execution, a contrast central to the duo’s enduring chemistry. Embryonic piano sketches were translated to nuanced modular systems, which McBride weighted with "harmonic padding," tuned percussion, and a spectral transfer device capable of "rendering spasms of rhythmic overtonal filigree." Despite the technological complexity of their craft, emotively the songs require no deciphering – these are technicolor widescreen anthems of the cybernetic age.The eponymous opening track sets the pace, soaring sleekly over glittering synths and call-and-response vocals about arias, shattered light, and faces in stereo. From there the record expands and contracts, cycling through a gallery of moods and masks, animated by the band’s fascination with drama, "the idea of personae," and theatrical characters. Track by track, a murky, tragic backstory reveals itself: forlorn figures navigating a treacherous mercury mine, alternately poisoned by fumes or buried in collapsing caverns. The tension between Teutonic, utopian synthetic pop and lyrical narratives of ghosts in silos, ruined mills, and the traumas of mineral excavation creates a compelling friction, alternately futurist and obsolete, elevated and subterranean. Wendelbo describes the music’s polarities perfectly: "The heavy machinic din of extraction in contrast with the enchantment of the mined precious gems and metals."From bilingual odes to bloodstones ("O Vermillion") to cosmic chrome dance floor classics ("Lost & There" "The present tense can never feel real / So many pasts conspire in the burning sun") to strutting EBM sensualities ("Actor's Foil"), Xeno & Oaklander re-prove themselves masters of the axis of technology and poetry, snaking cables and synesthesia, mining melodies and myths across 15 years of focused artistry. Theirs is a muse still gilded and gleaming, burnished red and silver, attuned to "the unobservable, the unfamiliar, that which you don’t see directly."
Vinyl release of Xeno & Oaklander - Via Negativa. Released through DAIS and available on LP.
(5570768)
DELIVERY INFORMATION
We may send items separately if you order multiple items and not all of your items are in stock.
Please note: all titles on vinyl.com.au are either in stock with us or one of our suppliers. Titles not in stock will need to be imported from our suppliers or distributors. Vinyl is primarily manufactured overseas. Please note the Stock Availability for this product, just near the price of this item.
GENERAL CATALOGUE INFORMATION
Vinyl.com.au aims to provide up to date images of the products and accurate information. However, product detail may change from time to time and there may be a delay in making updates.
In the case of coloured vinyl, we understand some collectors are after a particular variant of coloured, transparent or marbled vinyl, however in most cases these varieties are released in limited quantities for the first pressing - then revert to regular black vinyl without notice from the distributor.
Cat No: DAIS235LP
Barcode: 683950558007
Packaging: LP (100g)
SKU | 5570768 |
Barcode # | 683950558007 |
Artist | Xeno & Oaklander |
Artist/Author | XENO & OAKLANDER |
Shipping weight | 0.6140kg |
Format | LP (100g) |
Be the first to review this product!
Help other shoppers by writing reviews for products you have purchased.