Wermonster - Ghosts Move Slowly (CD, CD)

Wermonster is Nicolas Mercet, a French musician and producer living in Berlin. After a few EP’s on the Musica Vermella and Slow Fi Monks imprints, Ghosts Move Slowly, his startling debut album, is being released by Exotic Pylon in 2 differently packaged editions on CD. Visual artist Mathieu Séry, also a Berlin-based French émigré, is responsible for the visual realisation of both the second standard digipak run which swiftly follows an ultra-limited edition (50 copies only) with handmade, individually spray-painted sleeves.  Ghosts Move Slowly was mastered by Brian Pyle (Ensemble Economique).

'It was winter in Berlin, there was snow and fog on the streets. It was dark, people were moving on the snow, really slowly, and I had the feeling they were like ghosts. The title of the song/album comes from that. I guess the city itself also had a strong influence on the music…'

Predominantly inspired by Hip Hop and saturated in textures from contemporary bass music, Wermonster fuses a widely accessible sound with richly haunted atmospherics – a wide-screen production that is soulfully psychedelic and laced with abstract textures. However, Ghosts Move Slowly marks a major development in Nico’s compositional and recording processes:

'At some point I got bored of sampling nearly only records, like I use to do a lot on my previous work, so I recorded lots of sounds using instruments and objects available in my studio which I sampled and replayed like I was doing using records. I think it gives an even more organic feel to these tracks. It´s mostly an instrumental album, and apart from the track with Infinite Livez, voices are used like any other instrument…'

The result is eerie and beautiful, draped in a uniquely European elegance as a very human narrative seems  to play out in the shadows of its 30 plus minutes. But for all its natural beauty, Wermonster never loses sight of the machines – beats crack, bass moves seismically, electronic tone delves deep into the bloodstream and Infinite Livez pops up to spit surreal haiku over chipmunk morse code...

Produced in Wermonsters studio (located in an abandoned swimming pool) between summer and winter 2011, Ghosts Move Slowly utilises: Farfisa Matador Organ, Korg poly 800, a Kaossilator, Crumar BitOne Synth, Les Paul Special guitar, Fender Jazzbass, Trace Elliot guitar Amp, a cheap Casio Keyboard, one children´s classical guitar, chimes, bells and diverse percussions, a melodica, second hand records, mkII turntable, vestax mixer, SP303 and SP404 samplers, Akai S950 Sampler, microphones, a portable recorder, some FX boxes and a laptop.

Tracklist:

1. Overture
2. The Main Inspiration
3. How You’ve Changed
4. Last Time We Spoke
5. Make Sure I Can Read Your Thoughts
6. Atomkraft
7. Seekers (feat. Infinite Livez)
8. It Never Ends
9. Evnonelies (feat. Hannah)
10. Bad Get Fame
11. Ghosts Move Slowly
12. Her Mind

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