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TREE068

Driven

Formats: 12" Vinyl Standard Edition, Digital, 12" Vinyl Collector's Edition, CD
Category:
«eigenständig und absolut aussergewöhnlich» – Dr Fisch – RFV

 

«raging and dark» – Indie Rock Mag

 

«I am genuinely fascinated.» – Anders Ekdahl – Battle Helm

 

«Noch nie wurden kalter post punk, leidenschaftlichster noiserock und hypnotischer shoegaze so selbstverständlich ineinander verwoben.» – bprodukt

 

«Irgendwie hat es die Band geschafft, …, die Seelen blank zu legen und den Hörer stehend mit offenem Mund zu erreichen.» – Sista S. – Heavy-Metal.de

 

«This is music made from emotion and gut instinct and will eventually touch your soul.» – Lords of Metal

 

«Die Band um Frontfrau Robyn Trachsel beweisen, dass Wut und Verzweiflung in grossartiger Musik enden können.» – Michael Bohli – Art Noir

 

«Als würde man die Roheit von Metz oder Pissed Jeans mit der Experimentierfreude von A Place To Bury Strangers verbinden und mit Shoegaze-Elementen unterstreichen.» – 9/12 – Arne Helms – Visions

 

«How about trying not to annoy the listener?» – The Independent Voice

 

«Like melvins had babies with bikini kill!» – Merchants of Air

«4/5» – Daily Rock

 

«Good Stuff!» – WFMU

 

«Means Of Reproduction (…) one of the most unusual tracks you’re likely to hear this year.» – 8/10 gbhbl

 

«An unsettling, thought-provoking mix of urgency and despondency, and I have found myself listening to it over and over again.» Catherine Fearns – Pure Grain Audio

 

«They Kill will provide the desired contrast in our program.» – Radio X

 

«Die Verschärfung mit dieser Basler Band, die getrieben ist von so vielem, was auf dieser Welt schief läuft. Gute Wut.»  Benedikt Sartorius – Listen Up!

 

Asbest (the German term of Asbestos) is a fibre that is part of the structure and yet its existence is undesired. As soon as an attempt is made to remove Asbest, it becomes harmful. Asbest is the systems own inherent contradiction.

 

Asbest use different musical styles which share a certain aggressiveness. Post punk, noise rock and shoegaze are the cornerstones. This melange is an angry to desperate reaction to the general events of our time, but it also reflects Trachsel’s personal experiences as a trans-woman in a cis- and heteronormative society. Accordingly, Asbest display an urgency and ennui that is omnipresent.

 

In April Asbest visited the Malthouse Studios in Bristol, where Dominic Mitchison (Spectres, Velcro Hooks, LICE) produced their debut «Driven».

 

«Driven», at the same time the opener of the album and a noise-rock thunderstorm which turns into a veritable doom piece towards the end, stands for Sturm und Drang: to simply do it, no matter what the consequences might be. This can provoke the loss of control and indeed letting go is the theme throughout the songs that follow. Including the slow moving and aptly named Chain Reaction with the lines «I’m knocking over. A chain of dominoes. That has been standing there long before it fell». But as little as there’s control over the falling of the stones, the more the course can be set when setting up the route. Driven isn’t just shouting out loud: «by illuminating the particular we criticize the general: we criticize the repressive form of society using the gender discussion as an example.»

 

The complexity of thoughts driving Trachsel is also reflected by the music. Asbest neither stop at the styles mentioned above, nor do they shy away from jazz elements like the 13 bar walking bass in «Means Of Reproduction», or the atmospheric «I Need A Spacesuit To Leave Home» which could serve as the second part of «Message To Harry Manback» never written by Tool.

 

Released in co-operation with Czar of Crickets Productions.