HAUS ARAFNA - Asche

The German duo Haus Arafna, made up of the elusive Mr. and Mrs. Arafna, are the symbol of a very particular niche of the post-industrial scene, the so-called angst-pop. A term that actually has little to do with pop as traditionally understood, and which denotes a fusion of minimal wave, power electronics, noise, darkwave, industrial, and dark ambient, with tones that are by turns noir and allusive, harsh and cutting. Not only are the two artists regarded as the guiding spirits of this musical niche, their label Galakthorrö has also released work by various names close to this sensibility, such as Te/DIS, Subliminal, Nightmarish, or the duo's own parallel project under the name November Növelet, marked by even more minimal and evocative tones.

With "Asche" Haus Arafna present their sixth album in thirty years of career, almost ten years on from "New York Rhapsody". If the previous album showed a greater presence of elements borrowed from their experience with November Növelet, with the new record the duo seem to look back to their earliest steps, reclaiming their more noise-driven, corrosive spirit.

"Leiden An Deiner Statt [Schwarzer Strom I]" throws open the rusty gates of the record with its alarming hums, soon transfigured into distant dark-ambient sounds, probed by mechanical, creeping rhythms. The unnerving pace meets industrial roars in a suspended tension, while in the second part a filtered voice intones dark lessons.

"Asche [Wir gehen auf]" pushes the concept of minimalism to its furthest consequences: scattered sounds shape a drone that has the flavour of suggestion and background noise, the vocal timbres are so heavily manipulated that they become vague spectres, and sudden distortions appear only to vanish again at once.

"Sieh Mich An [Wenn du stirbst]" is a perfect example of their blend of minimal and power electronics traits, offering rhythmic marches suspended between dark loops and furious screams. A sickly, deliberately unpleasant atmosphere still manages to be enchanting and hypnotic thanks to the obsessive mantras of the rhythm section. The best way to describe "Asche" is probably, on paper, the most banal one: here Haus Arafna do what Haus Arafna do.

So, what does all this mean? Simply that they return to the essence of their sound, giving us new episodes of skeletal sonic nihilism. Managing to vary the theme of a style as oppressive and deliberately bare as the one tackled here isn't for everyone, and the risk of tedium is very real in inexperienced hands. Luckily, we're talking about the very people who created this current and who still today manage to steer it with the ease of those who possess a certain sound on an intimate level. A most welcome return.

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13/11/2020