Official press release:
Copenhagen’s LLNN burst onto the international scene with 2016’s critically acclaimed debut album Loss, a sheer display of, “absolute raging rawness,” as Terrorizer put it. But there is more to LLNN’s sound than that. “The wavering drone synths that are effortlessly merged with a raw, hardcore-driven darkness define the subtle idiosyncratic nuances of LLNN’s very unsubtle, painfully overwhelming sound (The Sludgelord).”
After a split EP with Los Angeles’ Wovoka in the summer of 2017, LLNN returns with their sophomore album, Deads, which evades all the pitfalls of the sophomore slump. Produced by Jacob Bredahl and mastered by Tue Madsen, Deads is an erosive, abrasive, dystopian, apocalyptic monolith of monstrous dimensions: more compact, yet more complex and organic all at the same time.
LLNN has now perfected the amalgamation of the stringed instruments section (bass, guitar) with keys player Ketil Sejersen’s dominant ’80s sci-fi movie-esque synth layers, which are inspired as much by composers like Brad Fiedel, Vangalis, John Carpenter, and Stanley Kubrick, as much as by sci-fi/horror games like Silent Hill, Dead Space, Halo, and Limbo. Drummer Rasmus G. Sejersen comments:
“Some of the synth sounds on Deads consist of recordings from everyday sounds transformed into eerie soundscapes, for instance the sounds of boiling water. We wanted the soundscapes to be a persistent and dynamic underlay of sounds that influence the music’s core and soul throughout the entire album, together with all the riffs, rhythms, and vocals.”
It doesn’t come as a surprise that this band triggers the interest of movie soundtrack composers like the award-winning Peter Albrechtsen, known for his work on movies like Dunkirk, Antichrist, and The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo.
“As a sound designer for movies, I love when music feels like a sonic adventure. I’m obsessed with music that explores what sound can do to our body, to our mind, to our imagination. LLNN’s new album is one of the most overwhelmingly intense records I’ve heard in quite a while and the way it blends abstract ambient sounds, shattering rhythms and extreme noise is both hypnotic and powerful. The sense of sonic detail is staggering and for each spin I hear new elements, echoes, textures, and my mind gets new visual associations. Sometimes it feels like the soundtracks of Apocalypse Now and Eraserhead has been melted together and blasted through a ferocious guitar amp – these songs have both a sense of impending doom and an extraordinary combination of raw energy and gritty beauty.”
Sample “Armada”, courtesy of Treble, at this location:
Deads will see release via Pelagic Records on April 27th on CD, 2xLP, and digital formats. For pre-orders in North America go to THIS LOCATION, in Europe go HERE, and in Australia go HERE. Fans of Neurosis, Cult Of Luna, Celeste, Isis, Godflesh, The Body, Botch, Breach, His Hero Is Gone, Love Sex Machine, and Converge, pay heed.
Deads track listing:
1. “Despots”
2. “Parallels”
3. “Armada”
4. “Civilizations”
5. “Appeaser”
6. “Deplete”
7. “Structures”
8. “Deads”
LLNN is:
Christian Bonnesen – guitar, vocals
Rasmus G. Sejersen – drums
Ketil Sejersen – synths
Rasmus Furbo – bass