Theyrgy follow their excellent first EP, Exit Strategies, from last year, with Interrupteur, a new six-song release which further ventures into the band's unorthodox blend of shoegaze, post punk and industrial sounds. Like many of the releases coming out these days, Interrupteur is a product which relied a lot on remote collaboration, as it was put together right before and during the Covid 19 pandemic.
This time around the band stepped aside from the improvisational mindset which characterized their previous work, and based its creative method on the skeletal sketches the members brought to the taple which eventually formed into half a dozen thoroughly realized and fleshed out songs. This new direction is clearly observable from the very beginning, with the first two tracks, Unimportant Truth and No End In Sight, finding the band denser than ever, delivering tightly arranged, astute style of songwriting. A different version of the latter has been previously heard on D//E's compilation, A Growing Scarcity of Expectation, yet, the EP version definitely deserves the attention of a first time listen, and it comes forth with a lot of supplementary bite.
With Your Teeth Are My Currency exposing the quirkier and at the same time eerier facet of the band's sound, the EP begins to move on into further depths of darkness. An Exit Strategies remnant follows, the highlight track Hiding Your Face In The Wall remixed by the great Justin K. Broadrick (Godflesh, Jesu, Final and many more), accelerating the entire release with some additional class.
Spiral Collider arrives next to provide a bit of a breather and shade the EP with moodier, noir tones, being an industrial chiller which almost verges on cinematic ambiance. The more distorted Lean Mean God goes through a similar atmospheric path, yet, by way of a surprisingly bluesier and more soulful filter the track achieves to bring Interrupteur to an unnerving and palatable conclusion.
Theyrgy is not a very easy to grasp act, but as as eloquent underground bands go, their effectiveness is being proven for the second time in a row. The essence of Interrupteur might be quite different than that of their previous work, but in the final analysis it becomes apparent that it's the same refined band that has made both these records articles which cut petty deeply; and that doesn't only concern the actual music, but it also lies on the strength of Theyrgy's proper aesthetics, including the incredible artwork, and their artful poise.
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