In lieu of a traditional album release the artist will be issuing an extended series of singles across the coming months, culminating in a new compilation ‘Von Universe’, which will be available exclusively at the UK shows.
Across ten wry and magnificently warped alt-pop tracks, audionaut Ben von Wildenhaus has produced a sonic cosmos that expands beyond the realm of what a conventional band can do. Bringing together an eccentric group of songwriters, players and producers comfortable working in different formations across a variety of recording spaces, the new compilation explores a wide range of material, as well as an array of technical and musical possibilities.
Summoning from eerie worlds of haunted folk and bazaar noir, and evoking the jangle of junk pop and demonic easy listening, new single “Ghost Moon” is a desolate and droll ballad peppered with plucky acoustic guitars, and levitated by gauzy vocal melodies and decadent crescendos of softly spiralling strings. Speaking about the track Ben says:
“Uncannily reminiscent of Nico and the Velvets, yet enchanted with strains of iridescent melody and demented rhythms all its own, Ghost Moon is a wry ballad of shambolic adoration and unfailing devotion.”
Available in CD format exclusively at Von Wildenhaus’ UK shows next month “Ghost Moon” is the fifth track to be taken from ‘Von Universe’ and serves to further embody the abundance and eclecticism found across the unique new release.
Previous single “Anna Sonata” is the band’s take on a Dada grunge stomper, smouldering with near-meanings and half-dreams of a goodbye party for a world that never quite existed in the first place. Elsewhere “Moon Rover” recalls the arabesque surf material of 2015’s ‘II”, while “Kinetic Ohm” and “Yoyo a Go Go” put a more ethereal and apparitional spin on proceedings.
In the lead up to the tour the artist will also be releasing two further tracks: “Ketamine” on 29 August and epic show-stopping ballad “Endless Start” on 5 September.
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Hailing from the fog-drenched US Pacific Northwest, Von Wildenhaus is an apocalyptic avant-pop lounge act and a bizarro rock’n’roll band as comfortable working in American folk idioms as they are covering Henry Purcell x Klaus Nomi.
Ben von Wildenhaus leads a cast of shadowy conspirators in conjuring this darkly sonorous music, most notably accompanied by the spectral presence of singer Billie Bloom, who delivers ecstatic melodies with fearless and riveting devotion that have found admirers in the likes of The Quietus and Iggy Pop.
With his new single “Ghost Moon” set to land on 15 August, Von Wildenhaus’ UK tour kicks off in Ramsgate on 7 September. The artist’s new compilation ‘Von Universe’ will also be available exclusively at the shows. Full dates and details below.
VON WILDENHAUS UK TOUR 2023
SEPTEMBER
07 RAMSGATE Ramsgate Music Hall
09 LONDON The Slaughtered Lamb
11 BATH The Bell Inn
12 BRISTOL The Ill Repute
14 BIRMINGHAM Kitchen Garden Cafe
15 LIVERPOOL Jimmy’s
16 MILTON KEYNES The Craufurd Arms
17 WINCHESTER The Railway Inn