Nine Circles

On September 9, Gridfailure & Megalophobe will be releasing their third collaborative album titled Harbinger Winds, but today we’re excited to bring you their third single and video from that release, “Alterations Of Symbiosis.” As their previous collaborations have been extraordinarily avantgarde in nature, this one ups the ante in every possible way. Nine Circles is proud to unveil this video premiere immediately below.

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Gridfailure and Megalophobe defy easy categorization with their cinematic approach to harsh noise, avant-jazz, and psychedelic dark ambiance. That much has previously been well established. However, the choice here to focus on the psychedelic cinematic side was an excellent one. The slow build of tones and moods collide with jarring imagery that wouldn’t be out of place in the fantastic Nic Cage film Mandy. In case you missed it, that’s a compliment and fits this horrific ride of neon soaked sights and terrifying instrumentation. The duo’s visual presentations have always been striking, to say the least, and here is no exception. It’s a ride though a hellish landscape of visuals coupled with a soundtrack that is extremely heavy in mood and atmosphere that lends itself perfectly to complete immersion, which after all, is the point.

David Brenner (Gridfailure) had this to say about the track: “We consider this to be one of the defining songs of the album. The base recording was captured in a cozy but precarious live improv jam with Rosa Henriquez on clarinet, while Ben played his accordion through a chorus-driven pedal arrangement, and I torqued a light-sensor-activated Frankenstein theremin and pedalboard setup. Attempting to balance the delicate nature of recording Rosa’s woodwind through a condenser mic in the same cramped half-room where otherworldly effects were playing through monitors required restraint. Ben and I were blown away by Rosa’s gorgeous clarinet performance and we instantly had a vision of what we wanted to do with this record. Subsequently, Ben and I added bass, primary vocals, and nature recordings, Denise Fillion sent some incredibly well-placed piano tension, and Leila Abdul-Rauf provided some lovely background vocal aura.”

Benjamin Levitt (Megalophobe) also commented and had this to add: “This recording inspired a lot of what we did for the rest of the record. Rosa’s oneiric clarinet floating over the accordion with Dave’s damaged electronics like an anchor to something buried deep. We kept my spoken word track just out of reach, the way a dream disappears as soon as you try to remember it, playing off the nightmare Dave invokes. Just like with so many of the contributions we got for the album, the parts Leila and Denise did fit so perfectly, it was like they were always there.”

As mentioned above, Harbinger Winds has a ton of guest appearances from top level musicians from all across the musical spectrum which adds an enormous depth not previously heard on the last two collaborations. Not only that, but the album itself is a very long time coming; with work initially coming together in 2017 and the years since have proven to be goldmines of opportunity and nearly a total different album than initially thought of. The results of all this are outstanding as proven across the ten tracks that comprise the full length. Go back and experience that video again, take it in deep, and prepare for sensory overload.

As a reminder, Harbinger Winds will be available September 9 via Nefarious Industries and both band’s Bandcamp pages. For more information on Gridfailure, visit their Facebook page and for more information on Megalophobe, visit their Twitter page.

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