No Promotion

Description

WHIMM was born over ten years ago within the underground and mysterious post-punk scene of Toronto. The collaboration between Mounir Al Shami and Andrew Matthews has produced, over time, sporadic musical bursts while slowly evolving into a much larger body of work than their beginnings suggested. Ideas spring from every corner of *No Promotion*, reflecting a burning desire for exploration and questioning, while offering direct and impactful sounds. The result is an album that feels like it has shattered the entire discography of Coil into a thousand pieces and then reassembled these precious songs from the fragments. Or as if Vangelis had invited Section 25 into the studio in hopes of recording the soundtrack for a grim film. The resulting album is in perpetual mutation, oscillating between movement and decay. Patrick Flegel (from Cindy Lee) welcomed Al Shami and Matthews to the REALISTIK studio in Montreal to ensure the recording of half the album's tracks, also contributing guitar on the opening piece, "Five in Decline." This influence is evident from the start, as the first three tracks come from these sessions. "Five in Decline" pulses and barks before racing down corridors that seem to close in on it. "Another Labour" slows down to become a spider-like waltz where anxious melodies respond to each other. "Returnal" pulses, floats in the night sky, and haunts you forever. "Rye" carves a percussive path towards like-minded travelers, such as Terry Riley and Jon Hassell, before the lament of "A Death Remembered" forms the perfect balance point of the record. Between gradual build-up, nervous drumming, and organ layers recorded at the Metropolitan United Church in Toronto, the piece evokes a suspended emotion, on the brink of resolution. "Rhymes of December" tears through the air, carried by a solitary train beneath the urban expanse and its flickering lights that blur by, before opening up - in an operatic whirlwind - to the candlelit altar of "After the Last Sky" (where these magnificent organs can be found). "K'20" propels you into a chaotic and claustrophobic taxi ride (Who speaks? Are those sirens?), until you finally find the calm of early morning; you wait by the window for the sun to join you again, as the first notes of "No Promotion" are delicately scattered. The last track from the Flegel sessions, this piece offers more than eight minutes of contemplative beauty. It is the portrait of a restless heart, finally ready to find rest. Ending with a final appearance in the vein of The Caretaker, "After the Last Sky (Reprise)" marks a return to melody when words lose all their meaning. Al Shami and Matthews weave their lyrics throughout the work, words that describe a quest for clarity, as well as reactions and reflections. Al Shami - speaking from the Palestinian diaspora - meditates on uprooting, both personal and collective. His journey, which ranges from the state of one who has "been landless and [who] still sees clearly" in "Rhymes of December" to a more defiant stance in "Returnal" ("we will return, no matter the outcome or the places crossed"), takes a very internalized turn on 'No Promotion'. This feeling of alienation shakes the very heart of a relationship when land and circumstances impose separation: "And after our last breath, all that remains in me is our flesh and our fears; your last words will float for years to come, but you will never find a home in me." Marginalized hearts, yet knowing the direction.