Brussels-based Wim Lankriet’s stated ambition is to write “good songs with heartfelt lyrics”. This sounds innocent and conventional enough until you hear the dark tunes on his debut EP which pursue themes of “psychological turmoil and subversive sexuality.”
Lankriet was a founder member of Magdelena Solis and Syrenomelia is a continuation of the disquietingly atmospheric and gothic ‘sun cult rock’ of that project.
Spooky synth-drenched psychedelia combines with heavy metal power chords and menacingly whispered vocals. The two songs dwell on disturbing thoughts and unspeakable acts.
A Rose Shattered is about a toxic relationship between mother and daughter while Like the World Outside is based on a childhood memory of cutting up and ‘reassembling’ a dead rat into a alien creature! Easy listening it isn’t!
The two videos do a good job of providing suitably gothic imagery for tracks that are designed to feed nightmares rather than to nurture dreams. You have been warned.