IYv – Upės

First of two remarkable Vrystaete releases this week, both equally worthy of your time. IYv (a name autocorrect is having a real battle with) are a Lithuanian duo with various ties to the 'dark ambient underground' (yes, such a thing exists in deep pockets across Europe) and Upes is their debut release, first issued on tape back in 2017 and now finding a more-than-fitting home on Vyrstaete. Broadly speaking, this is post-industrial minimal electronic music with roots in drone and ambient aesthetics. Fine and dandy as is, though there's something a little more alluring and alien about these compositions than that might first imply. It's mostly instrumental, but when the vocals do appear, there's a deep resonance to their delivery that's reminiscent of both label mates O Paradis and, strangely enough, Blue Nile's Paul Buchanan. Late period Coil also comes to mind - Upes certainly has a moon music crepuscular feel -  a kind of siren song strung out at the end of the night and with no morning to come. If nothing else, it's got me hurrying down a rabbithole into contemporary Lithuanian music, trying to find out what else is out there lurking in the shadows. Edition of If It Was From Gothenburg It Would Already Be Sold Out.