Tasmanian Dark Ambient Experimentalists MEKIGAH Reveal 2nd Single for 5th LP
From Huonville, a town along the Huon River in Tasmania, Australia, comes MEKIGAH, an ambient industrial doom project of guitarist Richard Ziltch and various collaborators, now five albums deep into the experience and taking us on a disturbing, quasi-mystical journey deeper down the strange rabbit hole of brain-wracking technological acceleration corresponding with social, cultural, environmental, and spiritual decline.
Their forthcoming six-tracker is aptly named: ‘To Hold Onto A Heartless Heart’ (2024). As the album opens (“Collapsing Under”), there are samples of various mechanical sounds. I found myself turning down my volume to check and see whether those weed eaters were coming from my own neighborhood or not. They don’t last long, and soon we escape the suburban morass into a world of surreal sounds that seem to comment on the mad zoo of isolation and vanity that human existence has become. You can feel these unsettling rumblings in the track that follows (“Broken Rhythm Pressure”).
Before us is the album’s second single, “Away Drifting,” of which Mekigah member Skot tells us this:
“Away Drifting” From was the last track written to complete the album. Having had time to listen back to all the other material numerous times it made it much more clear to me what sort of track/sound was missing. The idea of what almost seemed like a throwback to earlier Mekigah, starting with a more folk-inspired melodic riff, drawn out more flowing mid to doom paced, less chaotic drums and crushing chords, quickly transformed as soon as I handed over the initial recordings to Richard Ziltch. RZ took a fairly leading role on this song in particular, adding layers of psychedelic, swarming and claustrophobic guitars.
As well as these layers that can be heard as both guitar and any number of other things, he also played a strong hand in mixing all his and my parts before Leigh and Sova Locus added to it further and I last added vocals.
Vocals were split into two sessions and two ways of thinking. There is a brooding, wordless, mournful choir,relaxed and breathing slowly. Then an unhinged explosive schizophrenic outburst of pain, confusion and bitterness.
It has a pretty straight forward structure compared to other tracks on this album but is no less noisy, chaotic & overwhelming sonically in its own way. There was an intention to create something a bit more beautiful and ambient with this track which slowly got taken down and drowned in a swamp of unforgiving frequencies, unforgiving emotions and negative psychedelic attributes.
We go, leave, are away, drifting from people, out of our mind, knowing or caring about what’s going on in society, drifting away from places, from memories, physically, mentally.
Drifting through time, through life, through dimensions, through space. Drifting like water, like particles in the wind.
Mekigah’s To Hold Onto a Heartless Heart is an immersive, often terrifying, contemplation into the bizarre landscape of our present reality. Out in August on the Aesthetic Death record label (get it here).
SOME BUZZ
The fifth MEKIGAH full length album is a purposely designed ugly, drawn out, raw, awkward journey.
There’s no attempt or desire to either embrace the slow slow doom, to aggressively technically impress or to build upon previous motifs. Everything is caught between worlds, as MEKIGAH itself is caught between worlds.
Nothing is where it belongs as things are uncomfortably forced together through the sheer necessity of only gaining satisfaction via sonic self sabotage and harm, creating audial-mazes to which they then have to delicately navigate through.
“I trade in uncertainty and superstition and cant. I invent dark visions of impossible situations that can never be resolved” - Ralph Steadman
Heavily driven by basslines along with industrial, sparse, neanderthal drums. Guitars are featured heavily, but infrequently as riffs, more as screeching, wailing, floating walls of high frequency pain that are meshed with discordant piano lines – all this amidst the brief, but demented, freestyle vocal stabs and incoherent mournful chants. Neither the gothic metal, nor the noise doom of previous releases, yet having slight nods to both in fleeting moments.
“To Hold Onto A Heartless Heart” can feel immensely detached & cold but somehow personal & emotional too. This is MEKIGAH evolving, following his own heart and creative vision.
More challenging than catchy or entertaining in any shape or form. Layers of sound to discover and uncover in detail on repeated listens. At other times there feels to be claustrophobic walls of noise that are impassable, impossible to make sense of but for the hope and glimpses of reason that are seen through the minimalist riffs and beats - simplistic, repetitive and drilled into your skull over and over again.
“What it’s all about”….. is far more dictated by however any individual interprets the music, or how it makes them feel.
With any lyrical content, words & voice serving far more as an instrument or sound than expressing a storyline or emotion. Words on this album are minimal yet the confusion & loss that inspired them were huge.
Once again featuring long time collaborator guitarist Richard Ziltch and this time joined by Tasmanian underground metal legends Leigh Ritson (Disseminate, Thrall, Ruins) & Alex Pope (Ruins, Evil Dead) along with local experimental noise-mates Sova Locus, Primal Regression Therapy, Sydney Punk/Noise stalwart Con BCTW (Blurters, Milat, Impact Statement) and local arborist Sammy.
Mastered by Greg Chandler and once again Aesthetic Death is honoured to be working together with MEKIGAH to release this on digi CD.