Weval Dig Into Their Electronic Roots
Right from the start, Weval had something special. The pair blend an abstract take on club tropes with a thirst for world-building, building a singular catalogue in the process. Immerse and melodic, their music also has a percussive surge, a sense of physicality that few can rival.
The pair – Harm Coolen and Merijn Schotte Albers – released their eponymous 2014 debut through KOMPAKT, achieving rave reviews in the process. Since then, they’ve built up an impeccable catalogue, signing to revered electronic stable Technicolour for new album ‘Remember’.
Out now, it’s a beautifully weighted return, a signal of ambition propelled by a very subtle sense of evolution. Set to play London’s Lower Third on April 6th, Weval sat down with Clash to discuss their electronic roots, the sounds that inspired them to make music.
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Harm: This track is Windows 98 to me, blazing on shitty Logitech speakers in the dedicated ‘computer spot’, in our case the attic. Three hours Kazaa download, 128kbps. My parents couldn’t call, but I had a song.
Flash forward 23 years later I still love it.
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Merijn: Good memories about this one. The compressed drums were a big influence for ‘Losing Days and Where It All Leads’.
‘Plague Burial’ was one of those tracks where I couldn’t believe my ears. I was fifteen, and found this through a movie trailer. It was hard back then to track down the music, but when I found it I played it over and over again.
The CD wasn’t available in the Netherlands, but I emailed the record company and they gave me a signed one for free. I couldn’t have been a happier teenager.
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Harm: This track blows me away every time, so touchy, melancholic, nostalgic and done ‘lovingly’. Can hear this in a loop for hours.
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Merijn: Great start of a song. It’s such an interesting contrast between a haunting atmosphere and a beautiful soothing song.
This combination between the light and dark started the idea of this record. When the haunting strings come back in the middle of the song, it always gives me goosebumps. But not the goosebumps I was used to while listening to music.
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Merijn: Again a great combination between a beautiful song hidden in destruction.
Amazing how Low re-invented themselves as well. The way they distort their songs is one of the craziest things we’ve ever heard.
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Merijn: This song breathes melancholia and gives us such a hopeful feeling. Something we wanted to combine with roughness on LP3. It was a big inspiration for the underlying feel of the record.
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Harm: Somehow I never liked Aphex Twin, until three years ago, when I heard this track. I love these kind of chords melodies, some raw looping cymbals – let’s go!
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‘Remember’ is out now.
Photo Credit: Dennis Branko
