Tuesday 21 April 2015

Formes - Dysphoria Part 1


Tracklist:

1. Through This Whole
2. Tumult
3. I Am Nothing
4. I Will Make You Ill
5. Smile Club
6. Dead Ends

Following on from yesterday's Agrimonia review, I mentioned that I was gonna write two original review prior to No Fun Intended this weekend. Well, here's the first of the two. Formes, who play the festival on Sunday 26th, released their first record via No Fun Intended's record label arm in  March. The trio from Dewsbury, West Yorkshire have been all over the place recently and I can't wait to see them live.

You’d think that after a day at work and in this heat, I’d want to switch off; no such chance of that! I’m in a strange mood. A mood that can only be sated by progressive, experimental music. West Yorkshire has a bit of a rep for experimental bands. Take Leeds’ bands like the sadly departed Tangaroa and the newly formed Clenstch, to pluck some names out of the air. Dewsbury’s Formes are another band to add to the ever growing list. Dysphoria Part 1’s opener Through This Hole is a head-spinning mix of extreme metal and jazz with blissed-out clean vocals. There’s certainly no quick gratification to be found here. Formes prefer the considered approach with the first three tracks wading in a nearly seven-minuted apiece. Tumult is your first encounter with their death-metal influences as the song features blackened-growls in between the clean vocals. They mix the extreme elements in well alongside their calming textures. That intense experience comes to a peak on I Am Nothing. The musicality on show is pretty special and at times, you forget that you’re listening to what is ostensibly a heavy band. Music and it’s boundaries are there to be pushed and so far Formes are doing that with Dysphoria Part 1. The second half of the record is slightly more condensed but no less atmospheric. I Will Make You Ill could describe the way that Formes intend to make you feel after listening to this record, but in truth its ambient and haunting feel is more uncomfortable (in a good way). Smile Club is probably Formes’ most melodic piece. It’s weirdly catchy and even (dare I say it) accessible, but the ending is a fab collage of feedback-ridden riffs. Dead Ends finishes the record with riffs that air on the side of dirge, while still effectively inducing a trance. Formes are really really hard to categorise, in spite of the influences and nuances that they weave into Dysphoria Part 1. They are going to be something special live, for those who haven’t seen them yet.

You can stream Dysphoria Part 1 via No Fun Intended here:-



There are digital, CD and CD/T-shirt packages to be grabbed from NFI too.

Formes Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/Formesband
No Fun Intended Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/NoFunIntendedUK

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