INSECT ARK: debut album ‘Portal/Well’ out now

David Farrell 10 June 2015 Album Announcements

The debut album from New York based experimental/doom project INSECT ARK is released in Europe today, as the band prepares to embark on a US tour. Portal/Well is the result of a full year of work in composer/multi-instrumentalist Dana Schechter‘s Brooklyn studio.

Having already premiered their single The Collector via Roadburn.com, and laid the groundwork for their upcoming music video for the same track, INSECT ARK are geared up to take the album on the road – full dates below. Schechter will be joined by new recruit, Ashley Spungin (Taurus), who joined the band following the completion of the album. Portal/Well has been streaming via CVLT Nation.

The music video for The Collector is currently in post-production, with visual inspiration in part drawn from classic 1960’s Japanese ghost films. Featuring live-action footage combined with gritty animations made by Schechter (who is also an animator by trade); Alan Dubin (Gnaw/ex-Khanate/ex-Old), another like-minded NYC based musician/video artist, is the Editor and Co-Producer.

Exploring themes of corruption of the natural world, and facing oblivion, Portal/Well continues the wordless existential narratives already established on INSECT ARK‘s 2013 EP, Long Arms and 2012 7″ single, Collapsar.

Portal/Well finds its voice in the sound of elements burning and crashing into each other; in the haunting groans and swells of the lap steel guitar, the stalking bass, the insistent drum programming, and the deep oscillations of synthesizers. From this morass songs are born, deeply melodic, dense, austere, and wildly unhinged. Amidst the gloom there are moments infused with bright shards of light, and respite to breathe clear air, before submerging the listener once again into a deep cavern of lustrous shadow.

Portal/Well

1. Portal Well
2. The Collector
3. Lowlands
4. Octavia
5. Crater Lake
6. Taalith
7. Parallel Twin
8. Low Moon

Portal/Well will be released on CD and digital via Autumnsongs Records today, June 8 (Europe), and June 9 (USA). The album is available to order HERE.

INSECT ARK current tour dates:
June 10 – Ithaca, NY – Sacred Root Kava
June 11 – Toronto, CAN – Ratio
June 12 – Detroit, MI – UFO Factory
June 13 – Milwaukee WI, Utech Records Fest, Cactus Club
June 14 – Chicago IL, Empty Bottle
June 18 – Philly PA, Kat Frat
June 19 – Silver Spring MD (DC) – Pyramid Atlantic
June 20 – Baltimore MD – TBD
June 27 – Boston MA, O’Brien’s
June 28 – Montreal, CAN – La Vitrola
July 2 – Brooklyn NY – St. Vitus (record release show)

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INSECT ARK: debut album ‘Portal/Well’ out now

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