Insect Ark emerged in 2011 as the solo endeavor of bassist/multi-instrumentalist Dana Schechter, though the recent addition of drummer Ashley Spungin has coincided with a boost in positive attention, the twosome currently kicking it out on live stages across the land. However, Portal/Well documents the artistry of Schechter alone; offering progressive-minded doom vibes of significantly high quality, it’s out on compact disc June 8 via Autumnsongs Records.
Dana Schechter is an animator, visual artist, and musician of distinction. Her numerous credits include a stint in Michael Gira’s supplementary Swans venture Angels of Light, contributing bass and piano to 2001’s How I Loved You and ‘03’s Everything is Good Here / Please Come Home, and additionally bringing her instrumental skills and impressive vocalizing to the noir-hued melodies of NYC/Berlin-based outfit Bee and Flower’s three full-lengths, ‘03’s What’s Mine is Yours, ‘07’s Last Sight of Land, and ‘12’s Suspension.
Excepting the b-side to the project’s debut 7-inch, Insect Ark has intensified the duskiness of Bee and Flower without the aid of the human voice. “Collapsar” b/w “Piledriver” was issued in ’12 by Lancashire and Somerset Records and is still available on wax through Insect Ark’s Bandcamp page; with immense unhurried beats, synth additives, an uneasy disposition, and deft growth into fully-formed rock motion, “Collapsar” serves as a fine entryway into Insect Ark’s general template.
Emerging in ’13 on Geweih Ritual Documents, the 3-song “Long Arms” 10-inch (also still in-print) deepened the emphasis on mood as the title track’s expanded duration left ample room for elements of abstraction to develop into a rock scenario. Perhaps most notable is the absence of voice creating not a dearth to be filled but lending a distinct wrinkle of personality; that Insect Ark recently shared a bill with long-serving non-vocal rock trio Blind Idiot God is certainly not a coincidence.
Previously described as “one woman, a sampler, a bass, a lapsteel and a keyboard,” the new duo configuration finds Ashley Spungin of Portland, OR psychedelic doomsters Taurus (and formerly of Purple Rhinestone Eagle) adding rhythmic heft to Insect Ark’s equation; Schechter has professed enjoying the freedom of working alone while admitting the increased power of another human being beating the skins was simply too good pass up for purposes of both performance and recording.
Spungin makes her studio debut on “Windless,” a lathe cut 7-inch produced by Utech Records. Featuring artwork by Denis Forkas Kostromitin, appropriate for a lathe cut it’s in a limited edition of 50. Available at the Utech Records Music Festival III taking place in Milwaukee, WI this June 12-13, any remaining copies will be sold through mail order.
Frankly, the likelihood of that circumstance becoming a reality is at best a crapshoot, and a much surer bet is to pick up Portal/Well. The byproduct of a year’s worth of toil in Schechter’s Brooklyn studio, the CD effectively marks the end of her solo phase by opening with the foreboding atmosphere of the title track; heavy bass thud and the stutter-pound of programmed-drums combine with incoming storm clouds of controlled distortion and sharp-edged stabs of lapsteel.
The music unfurls slowly and yet flows with assurance and a touch of finesse; if unquestionably doom-laden, Insect Ark doesn’t dwell in a cave, instead oozing tension while avoiding the bombastic, bluntly a tricky feat with material of this ilk. Then a methodical shift into rockier territory arises, guitar lines gnawing as the forward-motion leads into a dense and subtly dynamic finale. Indubitably a heavy proposition, Schechter thankfully sidesteps heavy-handedness with seemingly little trouble.
Akin to “Long Arms,” Portal/Well’s opener stretches to nearly seven minutes, but tidier in construction is “The Collector.” The second of eight pieces, its title initially brought the ’63 novel by John Fowles to my mind, though there’s no evidence to support a connection. A repetitive cadence at the beginning does mimic a warning alarm of futuristic design; in tandem with burbles of synthetic dread it provides the selection a spot of the science-fictional, Insect Ark momentarily leaning closer to Chrome than Southern Lord.
The tendency to draw comparisons between instrumental musical affairs and cinematic environments is a probable weakness of this writer, but when considering that Schechter’s Bee and Flower have a pair of film scores in their discography and furthermore appear on the soundtrack to documentary Scott Walker: 30 Century Man, the linkage isn’t unfair.
But for the majority of its running-time “The Collector” mingles a stomping paradigm with precisely layered textures. It precedes the first of Portal/Well’s sojourns into abstraction, an inclination reinforcing Schechter’s ambitions as she keeps a handle on restraint. “Lowlands” is marked by swells of feedback; its counterpart “Crater Lake” inhabits an electronic air.
Between them is the lengthiest entry, “Octavia” sitting amongst Portal/Well’s most adept explorations of the doom sensibility (it’s also a possible nod to the late sci-fi author Octavia E. Butler); the pace doth move like chilled molasses, the drumming conjures insistent lethargy, and the bass tones secrete thick, fuzzy rumble.
But helping to set “Octavia” somewhat apart is the keyboard, sampler, and lapsteel, all utilized to differing degrees of unconventionality with the latter only occasionally identifiable as such. Even more doomed-out is “Taalith,” the aggressive plod of its opening minutes accented by swirls of steel, slyly conceived loops, and as the cut incrementally gains tangible rock energy, recognizable synth lines.
The penultimate track doesn’t deviate from the mood, though Portal/Well is varied enough that a substantial level of value is maintained throughout its 42 minutes; alongside possessing the record’s most minimally effective drum thump, “Parallel Twin” is loaded with surging, pulsing, and drifting sonic attributes insuring it never falters into the predictable.
To the contrary, the disc ends on a rather unexpected note, the drums departing as “Low Moon” unravels a succession of ambient motifs and highlights Insect Ark as fully deserving of the descriptor/accolade experimental. It’s slightly reminiscent of some of the more restless aural activity that lurked on the fringes of the ‘80s underground, and given Schechter’s past association with Michael Gira, the similarity shouldn’t be a surprise.
This is not to deflect proper credit; Portal/Well is an achievement entirely of its maker. Moving ahead, Insect Ark will benefit from collaboration, but with this CD Dana Schechter evinces an abundance of creative spark.
GRADED ON A CURVE:
A-
