ALBUM REVIEW: Urian – The Hirsch Effekt
Urian is a uniquely refreshing album. THE HIRSCH EFFEKT (THE), its almighty sculptors, have always had an inclination for blending shades of avant-garde, prog, jazz, and whichever noises the kitchen sink might make, and doing so with a deft touch. They’re not the first to do it, and they won’t be the last, but it’s the band’s rationale of ‘everything, everywhere, all at once’ on their sixth studio release that feels so novel. Others, both contemporaries and even THE’s past efforts, have resolved to assault listeners without rhyme or reason, hoping that senseless bombardment might be mistaken for creativity. Urian is not one such album.
Despite being beyond a cliché, Urian sticks steadfast to the philosophy of ‘less is more’. This is no 60-minute slog madly diced into 14 indistinct chunks, each vying to be more uncalculable than the last. This is a meditated, inspired piece of music, carved into eight distinct vessels with a name and story well worth remembering. These stories, too, have no single narrator. Like the five albums before it, Urian commands the monikers and influences of a myriad of artists and styles, and all of which feel ‘one’ under the meticulous craftwork of THE. This culmination, then, isn’t a cheap ‘Avengers assemble’ moment, but a dazzling stroke of colour from a brush dipped in the endless spectrum of light itself. The finished piece is masterful.
It will come as no surprise that the tracklist plays like a true landscape of the natural world; rugged, unrelenting but forgiving at times, even welcoming. Agora is the band’s greeting and is as solemn as a heartfelt farewell. The band starts candid and folksy, layering droning strings atop vocalist Wittrock’s timid whispers, a gentle sway as the rivers of Urian’s world show us downstream and towards its rapids. Where Agora lays us down with a caring touch, Otus hurls us on our faces and into the rough. Clocking just shy of ten minutes, Otus makes every ounce of its heft count. Gone is the sense of ease with which we were introduced, replaced by a sprawling post-metal epic punctuated by the looming thunder of its bass riff. It’s a glorious work of balance that stands on the knife’s edge of light and dark, piercing it into the field of grey.
This one-two punch is typical of Urian’s equilibrium. 2054 and the title track follow with amped-up ferocity. The former builds its unhinged animosity with theatric synth notes in the style of ORBIT CULTURE while the latter interrupts a math rock assault to snatch listeners through a wormhole of electronic psychedelia. Then, after you’ve almost caught onto where Urian is drunkenly navigating itself, Stegodon injects a grungy, shoegaze number that would baffle even the broadest of minds.
It’s bizarre, unforgiving, and the wider picture is unlikely to reveal itself to first-time listeners, especially those unaccustomed to the band’s unconventional conventions, but those patient enough to see the patterns through the cracks will be duly rewarded. The aforementioned ‘refreshing’ touch of Urian speaks largely to THE’s growth as a trio. While undeniably forward-thinking, their earlier work would often sully its own creativity by taking action without a course for it. Now, with 13 years behind them, Urian feels like the destined evolution of THE’s dutiful tenacity. Here, the performances run as clockwork, yet, with no sacrifice of the humanity that gives the album its wondrous spark.
THE is on the cusp of perfection here. There are never instances when Urian could be considered bad, this is certain, but there is the odd reminder of the band’s, perhaps unerasable past. Urian and Blud are fantastic pieces of work but can sometimes venture too far into the senseless frenzies if but only for a mere moment. These staccato beatdowns are short-lived but can ironically bring the song’s momentum to a slow simmer as it tries to be a tad too jarring.
What can be said about Urian with words has undoubtedly been voiced far better with the ink of its pen. THE HIRSCH EFFEKT speak for themselves and, in attempting to solidify themselves as a talking point for the entire genre, have made an undeniable claim. Listen to it, study it, or be consumed by it, no matter the level of your interest, take a listen to the sound of Urian and you shall do so in awe.
Rating: 9/10
Urian is set for release on September 29th via Long Branch Records.
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