Energy & Strength is the brand new release by Philadelphia’s End Christian and is out today via Translation Loss. Although heavy, the music draws from a diverse range of sounds, including the darker reaches of shoegaze and dream pop with dark doses of electronic sounds that float above and beneath ethereal vocals, creating soundscapes that run the gamut from meditative to jarring.
The pieces range from the slender, half-minute hallucination of “Hour Job” to the truly cinematic reaches of “Oscillate Forms”, a piece that will appeal to fans of Steven Wilson’s stranger works as well as those who’ve come to appreciate post-OK Computer Radiohead. “A Relaxing Time”, meanwhile, calls to mind the audio cinema of classic progressive bands such as Gong and Hawkwind while remaining firmly in tune with the contemporary.
The collective brings together a who’s who of the strange and experimental with Gillian Dreadful (Fad Nauseam), Vincent Rosa (Starkweather), Christian McKenna (Hex Interverter) and Richard Hoak (Brutal Truth) adding their individual and unmistakable sensibilities to a remarkable and bravely new combo.
Although heavy or experimental music is often seen as radiating darkness, Hoak takes a different approach in describing the collective’s artistic vision. “Though we all come to End Christian from different musical places, our common goal is to make music that speaks positivity to this world,” he says. “The music does have a dark side, an ethereal extremity, but out message is of energy and strength.”
The group tracked the album in Harlem in early 2017 under the watchful ears of Alap Momin (Dälek), who recorded, engineered and produced the album. Hoak adds that Momin’s work was indispensable to the LP’s artistic success. “With Alap’s help, we are using the recording studio itself as our collective instrument, to filter and process our hive mind into songs,” he says.
The album also features guest appearances from Chris Connolly (Sun Kil Moon), Andrew Southard (Giant Squid), Jim Winters (Starkweather) and various other friends and family.
End Christian’s Energy & Strength is out now via Translation Loss and may be ordered here.