NEUROT RECORDINGS 30 April 2021
Steve Von Till is better known for his work with Neurosis but has released quietly psychedelic music as Harvestman for some time now and this project, too, is very different from the terrifying and stupefying intensity of Neurosis. This is released under his own name and edges right over into atmospheric ambient, mixing long synth sweeps, limpid piano and filmic incidental noises.
With an album called “No Wilderness Deep Enough” released in August 2020, “A Deep Voiceless Wilderness”, half a year later, is twice that album and yet half. Von Till has taken the original album, stripped the words out and released just the piano, cello, French horn, mellotron and synths. In compensation he is simultaneously releasing an album of spoken word, backed with just a few sounds left over from this project.
Thoughtfully treading slowly through quiet landscapes, this is less an event than a space to inhabit – perhaps something to pop on repeat whilst enjoying yet another quiet lockdown night in. There is something of the forest about it and I feel winds and the creaking of trees as well as dappled shade and the chill as the sun is blocked.
Reading from his first book of poetry, “Harvestman: 23 Untitled Poems and Collected Lyrics”, the spoken word album is twenty minutes of poetry, read in Till’s slightly husky voice. There is something of the visionary, a flavour of the Tibetan Book Of The Dead – instructional and descriptive. Poetry being a personal thing, these don’t strike me as holding any distinctive aspects but they are atmospheric and mildly intoxicating.
Taken as a pair, you have a snapshot of the workings of the artist’s heart and mind that shows a very different aspect from Neurosis.