The raw and visceral ‘Santango’ from Belgian post punk outfit Whispering Sons has the same sort of ominous and threatening pace of anything by The Birthday Party, with a Rowland S Howard level of scything guitar. There is an anxiety, a restless energy that is unnerving and disturbing. It’s brilliant.
According to the band,
…the title ‘Satantango’ stems from a beautiful movie by Bélà Tarr, a Hungarian filmmaker. Yet, the song itself has nothing to do with the movie. To Fenne, the word as such sounded great and evoked so many images that she used it to write the lyrics
The double single moves seamlessly into ‘Surgery’ where the walls of clanging almost discordant guitars lift the pace into something altogether more deranged and frenetic. The crying and wailing guitars insert themselves around singer Fenne Kuppens low registered exhortations that are brutal and raw.
This band has the sort of energy and excitement about it that brings back that oft missing edge in music: a sense of danger, a sense of madness and a sense of visceral excitement:
Utterly cathartic and utterly enjoyable music. The band has been signed to [PIAS] and to coincide with the singles release have announced details of a new album, ‘Several Others’, on 18 June 2021. You can preorder the album here.
Feature Photograph: Daniil Lavrovski
