Escape-ism is Ian Svenonius‘ solo project and his new LP Introduction to Escape-ism is out today on Merge Records. As a member of groups like The Nation of Ulysses, The Make-Up, Weird War, Chain & the Gang, author of books such as The Psychic Soviet, Supernatural Strategies for Making a Rock ’n’ Roll Group, and Censorship Now!!, as well as being host of the internet show Soft Focus on VBS.tv., the prolific artist should need little introduction. And yet, with all that work under his belt, Merge reminds us that Introduction to Escape-ism is the musician’s first solo record, proper–though he has an LP of obscure soundtrack covers from 2001 called Play Power, released under the moniker David Candy.
Introduction to Escape-ism finds the musician on guitar and vocals with a drum machine and cassette player to accompany him. As such, a song like “Walking in the Dark” is a lean, stripped back affair. Finding his Muse gone, Svenonius wanders thru the dark chewing a guitar line down to its’ last nerve while crackles of thunder echo. The video for the cut is directed by Shane McKenzie and Alexandra Cabral, and they follow suit with fuzzed-out, monochromatic visuals. Playing off the track’s lo-fi vibe, grainy reverse images of Svenonius pitch and roll while glitched patches of static threaten to overcome the whole picture.
