Belgian post-punk 5 piece Whispering Sons are streaming their fantastic debut LP Image in celebration of its release.
Following a series of singles and EPs, including 2016’s Endless Party, Image is a release that has been eagerly anticipated by fans world-wide, featuring songs like the fantastic Twin Peaks-inspired “Alone”, which has been a part of the young band’s set lists for the past couple of years.
However, despite containing “Alone”, which contains arguably one of the best guitar riffs you will hear this year, this album is less a pop record and more so an immersive journey through the darkness of future’s past.
Indeed, as the album launches forward with cautioned trepidation with the opening track “Stalemate”, which is followed by the unnerving “Got a Light”, which also alludes to Twin Peaks, but this time from the artful and surreal horror of season three’s historic part eight.
Following the fantastic nightmare that is “Alone” (which has its own spellbinding music video), the suspense builds up once again with the eerie “No Skin”, a song whose title is reminiscent of a ghostly child’s song. This sense of dread continues to flourish with the wailing guitar intro of “No Time”, which gives warning of the madness to follow with the line: “Nervous laughter surrounding me”. This descends like madness while the bass line marches onward.
The dark delirium continues with the next track “Fragments”, whose complex guitar work is preceded by a bizarre and disconcerting synth. This leads into “Hollow”, whose deep existential despair is encapsulated in the striking line “life is very long when you are stuck in existence”.
“Waste”, the preview track from Image with its accompanying lyric video, feels like the breath of a crestfallen beat poet who just emerged from some sort of Lovecraftian nightmare. “Dense” is a more sober reflection on the hitherto dark state of senselessness, confidently lamenting in Lou Reed coolness that leads into the semi-title track “No Image”, a piano number reminiscent of Nick Cave’s repertoire, save for the underlying guitar picking whose climax reflects the madness endured.
It its aftermath, Image is one of those rare albums with such a narrative cohesion that envelopes its listener into an alternate reality, if not entirely in its lyrics, definitely in its atmosphere. This collection of ten songs conjures visions of a gestalt exorcism through the eyes of a haunted mind whose image of reality is blurred by profound terror.
Album of the month. Listen below and Order Here.
