worriedaboutsatan - Europa (2020) Past Inside the Present [FLAC 2.0|44.1/24|tracks|WEB-DL] <Ambient, IDM>

Europa is somewhere between a re-issue and a ‘best of’ with a few gems from ‘The Vault’. It's a nice mix of the older satan catalogue and two new tracks, yet programmed to flow like an original record.

The tracks, ‘Who Is A Hunter?’ and ‘Cloaking’ were originally slated to be released as a 12" in 2017, but never came to fruition. These tracks now make their debut on vinyl as originally intended with two previously unreleased tracks, ‘Vex’ and ‘Sunk’. These tracks were from older sessions that worriedaboutsatan refers to as ‘The Vault’, which is essentially a backlog of songs that were constructed and produced when the band was still a duo. The previously released track ‘Shift’ makes a special appearance on this release with a fresh remaster from Rafael Anton Irisarri, along with all other tracks appearing on Europa.

It would be fair to say that the West Yorkshire city of Bradford is not known as a hotbed of drowsy post-rock-meets-trippy-ambient experimentation. Yet it was in the former textiles powerhouse (and sometime home of British bass music pioneers Unique 3) that Gavin Millar and Thomas Ragsdale recorded their latest album as Worriedaboutsatan, "Europa".

As you'd expect given their track record, it's a wonderfully atmospheric, sonically detailed and ultimately ear-pleasing affair, with the duo offering up an inspired mixture of hypnotic, textured, groove-driven workouts (see the shoegaze techno haziness of "Who Is A Hunter" and the near-Balearic bliss of "Cloaking"), poignant and bittersweet electronic soundscapes (the bubbly and melancholic "Vex") and deliciously layered ambient epics (sublime opener "Sunk" and slow-motion closer "Shift").

released September 25, 2020

Written and produced by Gavin Miller and Thomas Ragsdale, Bradford West Yorkshire, England
Mastered at Black Knoll Studio (NY) by Rafael Anton Irisarri
Design, layout and assemblage by zakè