Mirin Bide / Entzauberung – Split EP

Soon to be released on seven-inch vinyl (due early March 2021), what we have here is a special release from two bands from opposite sides of the globe. What they have in common, however, is the original ethos of punk, DIY and the ever-loving screeching sound of emoviolence.

In about ten minutes, both bands explode with pure, unbridled energy. Like waves of energy crashing into each other, rumbling, shaking. The bitter sounds of the here and now, of the modern days and times crawling along as we go on with our various duties and tasks, our daily routines.

But before we get into that, let’s look at a little history.

First up is Mirin Bide from Antofagasta, Chile, an emoviolence outfit formed by Lucas (guitar, vocals and member of screamo band Tara), Scarlett (bass, vocals) and Johao (drums).

In early 2020, they released their debut EP, Aberración, consisting of five short songs full of intensity that move like a torrential flow between jarring dissonance and melodic melancholy. It was later released on cassette by Larry Records. On October 31st, the same label, together with Illuminate My Heart, released a 5″ compilation of some of the band’s songs. They also released a split with IGBBTGIMA from Scotland and a 4-way split with Revenate, Melabuh Kelabu (both from Indonesia) and Mis Sueños Son De Tu Adiós (Argentina). This one with Entzauberung is their third split release.

Entzauberung is a manic-sounding one-man screamo band from Paris, France, filled with a strong buzzing energy and hectic pulse that’s submerged in dark but radiant distortion. They debuted in 2015 with a self-titled 5-song EP that featured their signature drowned out screamed vocals, giving a twisted feel to their signature fast and short songs. Two years later, they released The Love We Think We Deserve, their second EP, with longer songs that develop thunderous melodies and larger instrumental passages. In 2018, they followed it up with Drops, a 10-track with a more explosive and colorful enveloping soundscape. Finally, in 2020, we could hear three singles that worked as a prelude to what was to come. A little musical bridge that connects us to the future sound of the project. Which brings us to this new split release.

A slow, overdriven, oscillating bass opens the Mirin Bide side. The song is called “Civilizar” and it talks about illusions, will and chains, about the self, with lyrics that throw questions at us violently, with passionate screams that hit our ears and resonate vividly in our hearts. The band yells at the top of their lungs, playing along with bashing instruments in a dark and dense ambience that feels full of various sticky bodily fluids mixed together, fading into feedback, droning as our minds follow the noise. Then we’re interrupted by the tortured voices of “Grises”, opening like a wound full of pain, bleeding and dripping, drop by drop, falling into an endless well.

On the other side of the 7″, Entzauberung bring a different feeling, harsher and somewhat darker, but also carrying a similar languid mood that persists throughout their music. The vocals and the background static of lost signal waves are constantly fighting, but as if they know they have no chance to win. They feel defeated, but despite coming out on top, the instruments feel just as lost. These songs are dark and ominous, like interference from a broken radio, the white noise of despair. Absorbed, we keep watching the ripples in the abyss of the same endless well from before, looking back at us with bleak and apathetic eyes. Everything is blurred in distortion, melted, all its materials collapsed, spilled and scattered. I didn’t know about this project before and hearing exactly these three tracks was a nice surprise.

The first month of the year has gone by quite quickly and everything is speeding up by the second, but we still find ways to hold on and release little discharges of boiling emotions as we navigate through this huge mess, as we can clearly hear condensed in this ringing entanglement of emotional reverberations.

The suffocation and sense of stillness in the repetition of patterns that have been repeated over and over again throughout the years of musical history still reflect our way of life today. These are the relationships that gave birth to the genres we enjoy so much. I think we have to stay open to the places they can take us. Even if it’s as simple as turning on our turntables and putting on a new 7″ while lying in our bedrooms, all alone.