October 13, 2020|FEATURES NEWS

“Ireland is club banger central of the world” God Alone on bridging Post Metal and Electronic Music

“It’s been pretty class apart from the world ending!” Even with the collapse of human society still ongoing on a global scale, Cork’s finest post-metal export God Alone are seemingly in fine spirits indeed. But yet, it’s hardly surprising given why. “We were able to write and record remotely together over the lockdown here in Ireland and that made us a bit less sad about having to cancel or postpone all our show and tour plans. We still got to play some really cool and nice shows before the world stopped and we finally got around to organising the remix EP and finishing the writing of our next album so we’re very happy campers.” Late last year, God Alone dropped their third and first self-titled EP via Cosmonaut. Whilst the incorporation of blackened aesthetics and engulfing post-metal was no longer an original proposition, the band completely turned the genre on its head. With intriguing danceable melodies, clashing synths, colourful vibrancy and curious Celtic charm, God Alone channelled experimentation in an unbound fashion, fusing elements from a myriad of influences outside the genre of the record to create a record that was distinctly fresh and characteristic. “We think our self titled EP is the first in our discography we were truly happy with musically.” Continue the band as a collective. ”Tom Peters of Alpha Male Tea Party who produced it is an absolute hero and an incredible engineer who really understood what we were trying to do and I don’t think it would have sounded half as nice as we think it does without him. The EP and the touring we did to support it are some of our favourite memories of all time and we’re truly grateful to everyone involved who helped us make it and to everyone who took the time to listen to it.” However, even with the group’s penchant for electronics and fluid creativity made transparently clear last year, it’s fairly safe to assume not a single person nor fan expected what was set to come next. Released just recently is God Alone², a remix record that saw band transmogrify great obsidian slabs of post-metal into raving club bangers. This may sound an utter self-indulgent mess and a lockdown induced endeavour to banish boredom but neither is true. “We had been meaning to ask people to remix it for a while and the lockdown gave us the perfect opportunity to finally get on it because we couldn’t leave our houses or meet up or anything, the band explains. Related: God Alone – God Alone² | Album Review A collage of sounds that spur and invigorate, the release saw God Alone enlist eight excellent electronic producers to implement their own flavour into the record. What transpired was a clashing of sounds containing intense chemical raving fury, such as An Eldritch Abomination’s remix of ‘Madting’ and ambient soundscapes to bathe in, such as in the case of Doubt’s reimagining of ‘Feeling On Tic’. Or, as in the case of the Ghostking Is Dead remix of ‘Ke Ta’, a juxtaposing mixture of both. “The producers on this EP are some of our favourite in the country so it was amazing to see them all together and give their interpretations of our music, God Alone explain. “There was a wide variety of sounds on the original EP so getting producers from all different genres really helped accentuate that. We sent them each the stems of the tracks and asked them to do whatever they’d like to them and we are beyond happy with each and every of the tracks they created. We’ve always been influenced by electronic music in our music and it was incredibly cool and nice to hear people’s interpretations of our songs and make club bangers out of them.” “Our self titled EP was influenced heavily by bands like Foals, Converge and Fugazi as well as a rake of other math and post rock bands. Everything on the EP is exactly what we make when we’re in a room together and we are beyond happy with how it turned out. As for the remix EP, we looked at some of our favourite electronic artists around the country that have influenced us or that we enjoy and asked them to do whatever they’d like to our tracks and we couldn’t be happier with everything they did to our music.” Given the context though, it’s not surprising God Alone breached into the often misunderstood world of electronic music. Even in the face of wide spread club closures and tight fisted licensing laws, the country of Ireland has long enjoyed an affair with electronic music, with the nation’s scene having nurtured a myriad of artists currently repping the country on the global stage. Understandably so, with the scene’s ongoing growth, a myriad of new artists have emerged, ready to support the country’s reputation as one of the dark horses of electronic music. “The Irish electronic music scene is booming at the moment, you can look at any of the artists on this EP to see that. Various electronic collectives have started up around the country such as Flood and Hausu who are doing extremely interesting things for electronic music as a whole. Ireland is club banger central of the world” Of course though, it’s understandably natural that many from both sides of the tracks would have reservations about an amalgamation of the two worlds. After all, it’s an archetypical belief that electronic is reserved for those revel in chemical hedonism whilst post-metal is only enjoyed by those stoic and most aloof. However, the remix record doesn’t just show that such beliefs are nonsense, they show that the two stylistics can inter-blend in a manner that’s complimentary, presenting how the aggression, agitation, tranquillity and ambient musical textures are the fabric of both genres. It also showcases the curious and fascinating results that can be achieved when such textures are intertwined and loomed together. “If you look at post metal and post rock and compare it to electronic styles such as trance, the pieces are made up of tension and release, state the band. “Starting with something small and then building it into something massive by layering atmospheric and interesting sounds. It’s just one is slow and sludgy and the other is upbeat and dancey, we try to do both. ‘Children’ by Robert Miles is essentially an Explosions In The Sky song.” With the record out now, it appears God Alone² is not just a mentally alluring record, but a strobing call for unison, one that implores for creatives from different walks to collaborate and create work that’s intriguing and shatters moulds. “I would like if people listened to the EP and recognised that two seemingly disparate genres of music have a lot more in common than you might think. I would also love if they took good vibes away from it. Thank you so much.” Both God Alone and God Alone² are out now via Cosmonaut and Hausu. You can purchase both records and limited addition physical releases here.