Oregon Music News

In the dim light of the Ash Street Saloon, Uta, the lead vocalist of Aranya, lit a wand of sage and stalked through the mostly seated crowd, dancing and stamping a six-foot staff adorned with bells and feathers to the time of the heavy drums. She chanted in calling tones as the guitar and bass cascaded in a wave of sound. It felt like an invitation to some secret ritual, and the crowd heard the call, getting up to fill the room.

Their second song opened with thrash riffs and the vocals switched into a gutteral growl. The drummer and percussionist carried heavy poly rhythms woven between their separate kits. Uta donned a guitar to carry the rhythm as lead Tyler Kellogg ran through frenetic scales, often in sync with the rapid bassline.

Uta picked up a viola and led some gypsy-metal that loosened peoples feet. This is where I really started to connect, as the emotive sound of the strings guided my way through the thick rhythm. Her voice returned to high notes and tribal wails, and as they changed time patterns, the audience moved with them.

Their set continued through various moods and spaces, finding choral harmony, dissonance, even dark sludge, always with driving power. Uta offered an invocation “to the spirit that will bring all things to life again,” an insight to the intention of this heavy mix.

Strangeletter’s stage included lights, drums, laptop and synth modules, electric piano, bass, and guitar. Steve Bayless, the frontman and head composer, was set apart from the rest of the group, on the far left corner of the stage, with a strand of red lights cascading from his mic stand. They opened with loud drums, droning synth and a technical, hard funk bassline mixed with smoke and shifting lights.

They dropped a sample that sounded like wind blowing through radio static and looped into a glitched out beat, soon matched by drums and bass into a heavy stomp. The keys  lifted the song up and Bayless’ vocals sang through emotive personal reflections. This mix continued to morph and traverse styles.

Strangeletter reminds me of everything I liked about heavy rock in the early nineties but rebuilt with a dose of glitch and industrial tech. They layer sounds, building up and breaking down arrangements to find every place they can take a song. It’s all tightly woven and keeps the audience engaged with the storied lyrics.

Aranya’s six song CD is beautifully packaged with a hand-cut stamp design and is now available at their shows, and you can probably get one if you message them on MySpace. I had to leave by the time Strangeletter had finished, so I missed out on the  industrial mash-up dance party that is Metaphisc.

—
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Aranya CD release party
with Strangeletter
and Metaphisc
Ash St. Saloon