Aural Aggravation

The Whimbrels is an outer-borough masterpiece. The sound is dense, polyrhythmic, hard, and sweet, hooks and riffs to save your soul pop out at unexpected moments. The players’ credits — The Glenn Branca Ensemble (dating to the 1980s), The Swans, J. Mascis — predict the guitar-driven, sonic onslaught of The Whimbrels, captured on their startling debut – and as a taster, they’ve unveiled a video for the song ‘She is the Leader’.

A Whimbrels show involves racks of guitars, tuned in different and unconventional ways with the players constantly switching between them. ‘The Whimbrels’ album showcases this. There are counterpoint choirs, dueling e-bows phase against each other, chunking, poly- and cross-rhythmic interludes, soaring arias of distortion from Westberg and Evans’ strangely melodic and inventive guitar. Evans’ and Hunter’s vocals front a three-guitar line up tuned every way but normal. The ax men are veterans with contrasting styles that come together in a potent whole. The beats are smart and unrelenting. The album concludes with the instrumental Four Moons of Galileo, four short sections with the inner two framed by shimmering walls of descending, slowly evolving harmonies. The title recalls the four moons discovered by Galileo, suggesting the many more then lurking unknown in space.

ARAD EVANS (guitar, vox, primary songwriter) was a member, recorded and toured with Glenn Branca’s ensemble from the 1980’s until Branca’s death a few years ago. He is founder and still performs with Heroes of Toolik. In addition to Branca, he has played with Quiet City, Rhys Chatham, Ben Neill, John Myers’ Blastula, The SEM Ensemble, The New Music Consort, Virgil Moorefield’s Ensemble and many other groups. “A truly inventive and surprising guitar player.” (Rick Moody, The Rumpus Aug. 25, 2016).

NORMAN WESTBERG altered the course of rock as the main guitarist of the Swans over 35 years, contributing "overwhelming waves of volume with a mix of the rhythmically slashing and the harmonically sensual." He has a busy career as a solo artist and with other projects, such as Heroin Sheiks, NeVah and Five Dollar Priest.

LUKE SCHWARTZ is a New York guitarist and composer to watch; he also toured and recorded with Branca, and he performs in a wide range of groups, including Rick Cox, Joh Hassell, Lotti Golden, Wharton Tiers and with several of his own projects, The Review and the improvisational Hive and Quiet City and is in demand for film scoring work.

MATT HUNTER (bass, vox, songwriter) is a co-founder of New Radiant Storm King and plays or has played with a galaxy of cool projects, including J. Mascis & the Fog, King Missile, Silver Jews, SAVAK, and his own Matt Hunter and the Dusty Fates.

Drummer STEVE DiBENEDETTO, is a widely shown and collected fine art painter but also in in high demand for his music. ("The Spinless Yesmen" 1984—89, "Wonderama",aka "The Shapir-o-Rama" 1990—95, Airport Seven from 2010 to 14). He frequently collaborates with Dave Rick (Bongwater, King Missile, Yo La Tengo, Phantom Tollbooth) and Kim Rancourt (When People Were Shorter and Lived by the Water).

LIBBY FAB (drummer on That’s How It Was) is a founding member of the noise duo Paranoid Critical Revolution. She was technical director of Glenn Branca’s Symphony 13: Hallucination City from 2006-09 and toured as drummer for his ensemble on the Ascension: The Sequel tours. Her own electro acoustic and video works have been featured in festivals in Europe, North America and the Caribbean.

JIM SANTO (producer) partnered for many years with Wharton Tiers in the fabled The Kennel studio. At his own Tiny Olive, Santo has worked with a wide range of clients and projects. As a guitar player, his credits include The Sharp Things, George Usher and Harley Fine.

The New York Times once placed Arad Evans on “an index of creative or experimental electric-guitar-based music in America — young lords of the wild in the post-rock tradition.” That description fits The Whimbrels perfectly. You may need earplugs.

AA