Band : Y.E.R.M.O.
Album title : Disincarnation
Label : FFHHH Records
Distributor : Mandai Distribution
Release date : February 2010
Release : cd-R

Under the monicker of Y.E.R.M.O., you’ll find the Belgian duo of Yannick Franck and Xavier Dubois (he latter also known from Ultrafallus, Dolph Lundgren, Jesus Is My Son; as a solo artist he’s released two albums on FFHHH, and there’s also a collective release with Noir).

Generally described as “Experimental”, the band is a Drone duo “…from the sun. Their music is silence and sounds. It is the breath of the Sea ice. Disincarnation is a call, a dream inside of a dream. A somber, hallucinated, harsh piece. A reflexion about our times and the transformations of our environment. About deep sadness, revolt, and the possibility of an inner revolution. Maybe Y.E.R.M.O.’s most radical work. Black Transe music for the Gods.”

From their MySpace page I was able to assertain that this is not the duo’s first outing, in fact there’s several, each apparently a one-track entity : Collision Zone (2009, released through Idiosyncratics Records), From Gold Falls A Bad Rain (2009, Humpty Dumpty Records, and apparently mixed by James Plotkin), Seeds Of Dharma (a 2010 cd-R issued through Kaspar Hauser Records) and Defixio (available as free download from Radical Matters). Also, they occasionally collaborate with other musicians, having drums provided by one Jason Van Gulick and some female vocals done by Otobong Nkanga.

Things you need to keep in mind from the above, before visiting myspace.com/proyectoyermo to listen to some of the music, are : Drone, alternating moods, possibly most radical work. Just set your mind to nihil, and let the music have your thoughts wander off into imaginary landscapes! To those able to get into this kind of music, Disincarnation will be an immediate incitement to get whatever else is available on these guys (including Dubois’ other projects). Ask me whether I really like this while I’m listening to it, and you’ll probably have to ask me again, as I will need to force myself out of the deep dream-like hypnotic state. Even then the answer I might utter would be something of a distraught “Uh?”, and when asked the same question again, you just might get a dreamy but affirmative “Uh-huh!” from me! Definitely a winner in the “Best Albums Of 2010”-lists!

98/100

Tony.