We want to extend our sincerest apologies to our neighbours at Three Pond Valley: we’ve done it again. We’ve invited artists who build their music on the dark foundations of loud, distorted guitars. Please welcome Boris, Wrekmeister Harmonies, and Batushka to the lineup.
Boris plays Pink
Watching music change and observing how artists mutually inspire each other, how it all swirls around: if there’s a more pleasant occupation in the world, then we’re all ears. The Japanese band Boris took its name from the title of a Melvins song, and now they’ve become classics in their own right, in no small part thanks to Pink, a record they released over a decade ago. The already-legendary band’s long-awaited tenth album took everyone by surprise and changed the rules of the game. “Japanese sludge trio unleash their most melodic, conventionally structured, and aggressively addictive LP to date, flirting with shoegaze and ambient,” Pitchfork proclaimed. “Pink is an hour-long record by a band that felt an urge to show their various personalities without separating those styles into multiple LPs,” added the site Consequence of Sound. Nothing more, nothing less: we’re thrilled to have Pink performed in all its challenging splendor at the OFF Festival.
Wrekmeister Harmonies
“I wanted to sonically convey the idea of slow, creeping change. When I came up with the title I was thinking of how when daylight turns to night time it’s a very gradual process. You are lulled into watching this slow, peaceful sunset but then all of a sudden you look up and it’s dark,” says JR, the frontman of Chicago’s Wrekmeister Harmonies, explaining how he draws listeners into the group’s latest album, Light Falls. But perhaps “collective” would a more appropriate term: JR and Esther Shaw mix and match their musical collaborators depending on the needs at hand. Past guests have included David Yow of The Jesus Lizard and Marissa Nadler, while the latest release features members of Godspeed You! Black Emperor. What doesn’t change is the music’s dense, ominous mood, straddling post rock and metal.
Batushka
“Behold, Wisdom! Arise! Come, bow and fall before me, and thou shall hear gladness and joy, for I have loved the truth and I shall gaze into thee in my immense grace and render unto thee my mercy and love, for the first and final time this year on Polish soil,” proclaimed Христофор when asked to comment on the upcoming performance of the inscrutable ensemble Batushka at the OFF Festival. Their obscured faces and mysterious pasts may raise controversy, but their debut album Litourgiya (2015), a mix of extreme metal and traditional Orthodox hymns, made quite a ruckus on the black metal scene and beyond. As the one of the band’s musicians noted above, this will be Batushka’s only performance in Poland this year.
About OFF
OFF is a festival for the discerning music fan and the place to discover the best alternative acts from around the world. A truly unique boutique music festival, OFF Festival takes place in ‘Three Lake Valley’, Katowice – a beautiful green oasis in the heart of industrial Silesia. OFF is a way of life, one that flies in the face of current trends and stays true to itself, and the ethos of organiser Artur Rojek is firmly aimed at supporting art and music with the festival bringing many acts to Poland for the first time. OFF Festival’s reputation is growing year on year driven by the festivals forward–thinking, eclectic music policy and it’s bold and eclectic lineups. From the greatest alternative music stars from around the world to the increasingly strong Polish scene, OFF festival has inspiring music in abundance and the organisers and crowd have one serious finger on the pulse when it comes to music.
OFF Festival takes place from 4-6 August 2017. 3-day tickets from £52 available at off-festival.pl