Arepo (members of Terminal Bliss, Bleach Everything) capture tense, distorted drones on “A Forest of Knives”

Arepo is a duo comprising Ryan Parrish (Terminal Bliss, Bleach Everything) and Graham Scala (USX, Bleach Everything), and they’re planning to release their self-titled debut album on Pax Aeternum on March 26. Today, they’ve shared a new track, “A Forest of Knives,” which you can hear below.

Though the members of Arepo have a pedigree in hardcore and heavy psych, “A Forest of Knives” is a more haunting and atmospheric sound, blending distorted ambient tones with a psychedelic drone, like Grouper fed through even more layers of effects. About halfway through the track, however, it begins to pick up some steam and even a pulsing, nigh-techno rhythm, which gives it a tense, film score quality. It’s at once tense and beautiful, and made even more so thanks to the addition of some otherworldly violin performance from Bonnie Crosby.

Scala says about the track in a statement, “So this one is pretty much in keeping with every project I’ve undertaken recently in the sense that it sounds nothing like what was intended. Ryan and I conceived of this project in one of the late-night ambient benders we’ve embarked on during the times I stay with him to work on Bleach Everything records. It was supposed to sound like Songs: Ohia meets Tim Hecker but we ended up with something pretty far afield from that. We’re both very similar in the sense that, even if we set out to make something subtle and pretty, it ends up being weird and unsettling. This is one of my favorites from the album however—Bonnie’s also great to work with and meshed well with the weird tangle of sounds we cooked up.”

Pre-order Arepo’s debut here.