Rituals by bunsenburner

Less than a year since their previous outing poise, the limitless improvisational experimentalists in bunsenburner led by the band’s primus motor Ben Krahl, returns with a new full-length titled Rituals, set to be released via Krahl’s own bensnburner records on August 11, 2023.

Whereas poise was the project’s first official full band album under the bunsenburner moniker, Rituals takes the groundwork laid on poise and expands it on all fields to become a multifaceted towering monolith constituting of experimental progressive and psychedelic stoner rock with a firm emphasis on ambient and doomgaze elements. The hive-like collective of musicians blend together seamlessly once again through the album’s twelve songs and over fifty minutes’ duration, that not only burns bright the flame of ’something for everyone’ ideals, but coalesces an extreme array of tonalities and stylistic leanings into one coherent image of current contemporary music in its most prime and flowering form. Not held back by measly genre restrictions or ones related to a given set of certain instruments, bunsenburner is a testament to the wondrous harmony that can be achieved by means of aural elegance and compatible artistry between a set of people coming from wildly different backgrounds yet sharing a singular focus.

Having garnered their expertise from realms ranging from free jazz to extreme metal and everything in between, the sextet both promises as well as delivers on all fronts. The single most fascinating angle being that even though one could easily decipher each individual songs and draw down complex mind maps enough to drive any music theorist crazy, bunsenburner’s creation is first and foremost a thrilling and enjoyable body of work that can be approached and savoured by anyone with an open mind and an amenable heart.

Like its predecessor, Rituals was recorded live with a strong improvisational – jazz, if you will – approach, with certain segments and motifs being planned beforehand, but with the main forte coming from open-ended teamwork. What sets Rituals apart from poise in the most noticeable manner, is that the group has welded together even more tightly, and the newfound senses of direction and seamless unison drive the entirety forward in a new kind of way. While there’s plenty of details going into each song and their respective parts, the big picture appears in an even more refined and whole altogether.

bunsenburner have mastered the often dangerous regime of balancing on a tightrope between compositional and instrumental prowess and lively humanity filled to the brim with the joy of creation. The end result is that for once, you can very well hear that while the material itself is serious and shouldn’t be taken lightly by any means, the people behind it are clearly driven by mutual passion and rather obviously have a fun time doing it. This leaves a brisk and lasting impression on anyone taking the dive into bunsenburner’s world – a world that you gladly explore with a glimmer of glee in the corner of your eye time and time again.

bunsenburner is a collective of musicians who defy easy categorization, known for their approach to music that spans genres from free jazz to extreme metal. With a discography that celebrates improvisation, collaboration, and innovation, bunsenburner continues to push the boundaries of contemporary music, inviting listeners to explore the vast landscapes of sound with an open mind and heart.

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