The roots of L.A.’s Vast Habitat are found in the partnership of Daniel Lea and Michael Deragon, whose music as Heliochrysum first appeared on the Bedroom Community label. On Friday the 13th, Vast Habitat launches with three albums, one by each of the founders as well as a compilation.
On VHS 001, the first of a series, we encounter some familiar names, a sign that the label is off to a solid start. Bethan Kellough, Yair Eleazar Glotman, Stelzer / Murray and Pinkcourtesyphone are familiar to our readers. The compilation introduces a porous blend of drone and electronics that will likely be the label’s signature sound.
Kellough and Lea collaborate on “Isostasis,” which turns into a pounding beast before drawing back, gathering strength and surging forward again and again. Lea joins Jamie Michael McCarthy for the moody “Huy Vatu,” a dark ambient piece whose first half is filled with cello, piano and light drums, and whose second half adds industrial percussion. Deragon joins Stelzer/ Murray on “We Fall Less in the Dark,” which is rife with static and dotted with ivory. Together as Heliocrhyrsum, they meet Pinkcourtesyphone on on the more ambient (yet no less dangerous) “In Monochrome,” while pairing with Glotman on the brighter (but not too bright) “Abandoned Image.” New Corroded contributes “Detached in Part,” which starts in ambience and ends on the club floor. Collaboration is clearly a key part of the label.
Lea and Deragon’s solo work can be found here as well. Lea’s majestic “Tactile Memory Is Still in His Left Palm” builds like a meaty take on The Orb, falling silent mid-piece to become temporarily sweeter, then downright raw. One can sense a camaraderie with the Bedroom Community roster, especially the abrasion of Ben Frost. Vast Habitat has also released the ROTOR EP, advertised as a “fragment” of the full album Entheogen although only the title track appears on both. “ROTOR” is associated with the mechanical wheels of the angels in Ezekiel, and incorporates both beauty and fear, a lovely passage in the center assuaging the prophet’s initial reaction. The other pieces begin in ambience, then slide into drone and back again, whetting the appetite for the full release.
Extendng the theme of the EP, Entheogen‘s very title references a psychedelic drug ingested in order to evoke a spiritual experience. While one might drift endlessly on these dark clouds, moments of clarity arrive in the drums, which first surface toward the end of “Sentient.” The title track is especially active, incorporating chimes, then rustling electronics and eventually percussion. We’d love to hear a remix to bring the industrial elements to the fore. By the end of “Prophetic,” one feels as if one has entered a deep mystery and escaped unscathed, although changed.
Returning momentarily to VHS 001, we find Deragon’s “Abundant Horizon” to be the most beat-oriented cut of the set. Like “Tactile Memory,” “Abundant Horizon” is unique to the compilation. While reading more, we discover that Deragon is operating as the yin to Lea’s yang. Both are interested in spiritual matters, although Lea delves more into symbolism and prophecy, while Deragon, perhaps surprisingly due to the shadows that have crossed the preceding music, is a surfer.
DAWN‘s track titles suggest a journey both physical and philosophical: “The Night Before the Swell,” “The Hour of Transfiguration,” “On Certain Waves There Is Failure.” Like Lea, Deragon plays with darkness and light, seeing surfing as a grand metaphor, a wrestling with forces greater than one’s self. One never defeats the waves; one can only ride them or surrender. This may be the least chill surf album ever made, but it’s also one of the most realistic, capturing the struggle, the intensity, the doubt, the resolve.
Like Lea, Deragon also includes periods of electronics (“Everything Underneath Is Darkness” but defaults to drone. Ambient accompaniment is for pretty, sparkly, safe waves. Punk is for 100-foot waves. Drone is for the endless summer, the seemingly endless wait for a perfect set, and the interminable times in-between. When this music gets dark, it gets really dark, but sometimes to dive into darkness is to swim toward the light. In “Death is Thought Itself,” the album’s Mariana Trench, a choir can be heard: if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
Vast Habitat is off to a solid start with this introductory triptych. Despite the many collaborations, the works are consistent in tone and have a multi-genre appeal. We welcome the label to the fold and look forward to hearing what comes next! (Richard Allen)
a closer listen 