9.11.19 by Ryan Masteller

The darkest of ambients. V I C I M crosses knives, crosses hearts, hopes to die. Shadowy promises from Arlöv, Sweden. From the depths of Linus Schrab’s innermost being.

It’s easy to read “V I C I M” as “victim,” which connotes a sense of damage to the listener or the creator here, but there’s an even-keeled-ness that belies that, takes us in a different direction. The static and tone lapping against the rocks of the digital fjord suggests time slowly, inevitably, and eternally eroding away any sort of emotional response or connection, instead exposing the bare, unfeeling bedrock of “Ademptus Demere’s” elemental base. I’m not sure if this is a metaphor for my chest cavity or my brainpan, or if it’s an epitaph that will long outlast me. Silly shruggy emoji!

What I do know is that V I C I M rolls through landscape like a glacier, slowly, permanently altering it with his heavy vibes, his heavy moods, grinding the surface of the earth beneath it to silt and sediment. But the passage is natural – everything about it feels unhurried and authentic, not put on, no theatrics. V I C I M has an instinctive touch when it comes to his work, and maybe that’s due to the Scandinavianness of this project, of the landscape around him. Regardless, “Ademptus Demere” is as engaging as it is pulverizing, as nuanced and layered as it is dense. 

Pro-dubbed “piano tape” (one side of shell black, the other white) in an edition of 50 available from Tape Lamour.