“There is not much light in ‘Subcosmos’, but we have picked up the pieces and assembled a rough, dark mosaic from our experience. ‘Subcosmos’ is the world we create subconsciously. The doom we have let in ourselves.”
The Copenhagen, Denmark based post-metal band LATE NIGHT VENTURE has travelled a long way, both as individuals and as a unit. From birth to adolescence in the countryside and Danish suburbs to grown-up life in Copenhagen, the formation of the band in 2006 and to the new record ‘Subcosmos’. The band released their self titled debut album back in 2006 and after a series of personnel changes, the current line-up assumed form and released ‘Pioneers of Spaceflight’ (2012) followed by ‘Tychonians’ (2015). These two albums took their cue from shoegaze and post-rock unfolding narratives of the universe, man’s encounter with it and the questions of both scientific and existential observance emerging from such contemplation. The new album ‘Subcosmos’ is the third and last part in this trilogy, and where the two previous records take an observing standpoint, the new record is a highly personal work. Also, the music has shifted its focus as LATE NIGHT VENTURE has moved towards a heavier post-metallic sound and expression defined by legends such as Neurosis and Isis, which the band develops by the force of their melodic, poetic and local traits that have continously characterized their music.
Throughout the album’s seven compositions, LATE NIGHT VENTURE stands tall with its chilling Scandinavian vibe, the use of unexpected elements such as glockenspiel, analogue synths and field recordings as well as the momentary utilization of the Danish language as a narrating element in the tight arrangements. Once more, LATE NIGHT VENTURE has worked with one of Denmark’s most original and prolific producers Lasse Ballade (Halshug, Slægt, Solbrud m.fl.) in his Copenhagen studio. Ballade’s punk aesthetics and non-compromising approach to recording techniques has nourished the edgy, solemn and plain human elements, which defines the band’s music. LATE NIGHT VENTURE recorded the album live in the studio, and this is audible in the vibrant and intense outcome.
‘Subcosmos’ is the third and concluding chapter in LATE NIGHT VENTURE’s cosmic trilogy, and as such a part of the band’s meditation on mankind, life and the universe, in which this life unfolds. ‘Pioneers…’ took its point of departure in pure fascination of space travel and retro sci-fi - a cosmic perspective through the eyes of man. ‘Tychonians’ is an homage to the big Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe, taking us from space travels and down to earth to the scientific human occupied with understanding the physical world and our origins. With ‘Subcosmos’, we are landing firmly on Earth among the human species. The record is a dark and enticing journey into a dystopian suburban past. Inspired by the band members´ early life in the failed utopia of late-seventies concrete suburbia, “Subcosmos” dives into the tumultuous state of mind of teenage misanthrophy and the occasional escape into substances and music. Two of the members grew up in Hoeje Taastrup, one of the big Copenhagen suburbs that emerged as a part of the 60’s economic upsurge in Denmark and its accompanying middle class values and nuclear family dreams.
A main piece on the album is ‘2630’ - the postal code for Hoeje Taastrup. The song unfolds the album’s main themes of origin and affiliation, but instead of treating those as cause for identification and a sense of belonging, these terms are instead viewed as alienating and suppressive. In this perspective, origin is a circumstance by which the individual is limited, conclusively determinated and finally dissolved in death to become a part of this defining order forever. The question is, if one can walk one’s own path by one’s own will. Is one’s early life an eternal burden and does it define you character and actions forever? No one knows the answer, but ‘Subcosmos’ is LATE NIGHT VENTURE’s both poetic and crushingly heavy attempt at piecing together a lifetime of experiences, thoughts, feelings and questions into a coherent narrative and bestow meaning upon the cosmic coincidence, which place us a given place at a given time and makes us what we are - stardust on the soccer field down there in the suburbs.
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Czar Fest