Heavenworld – Compelling Evidence Of…

5.20.22 by Matty McPherson

Usually if I nab a tape on mail day and I cannot find any information in a database of inherent value, its a top level emergency. Plop it on hi-fi ASAP! Such was the case with Heavenworld’s Compelling Evidence Of… cassette. It was recently released as the fifth title on the burgeoning Industrial Standards label, which appears to have no presence of any sorts online. Thanks to local, jetski, I got a tip that the release was totally off the grid. Although a lil’ search will reveal that Heavenworld is a name appearing on both Discogs and Bandcamp; each ping only eschews another batch of questions. Just how many 2019 and 2020 releases were they doing? Why is there another Heavenworld based in Nevada while this one appears to be based in the Peoria, IL area? Does this tape reflect that surrounding region or another world entirely? Usual sluethy stuff.

However, Compelling Evidence Of… will not answer these questions! Through its drifting over the course of six tracks, Heavenworld conducts a series of illuminating, irradiating experiments. Sizzly synths, primordial pulses, and resonant frequencies all seem to be functioning as a path towards trance. Gate Inversion opens, brilliantly trapping new age jungle sounds within these electrified bass pulses. The title track seems to find its way out of a volcanic spring, riding a particular droning synth to the surface over its track length. Diagram Spiral lurches with a sense of “artificial intelligence” based listening. Side A itself, continues with two additional tracks that rearrange these two tracks’ ambient playground into further salient knots.

If you head over to the back side, you can rendezvous with Running, an intense “now that’s what I call an Ambient Drone” piece. The low end can be deceptively heavy even as it maintains the tape’s overall sonic…wetness I suppose is the best way to describe it. It all comes to a head with the vaguely dancey, synth droner Near Noxious Glow. It’s here where Heavenworld truly makes a stab towards that compelling evidence, basking in the general trance and meditative qualities that have been underlying throughout this release.