See the hypnotic video for Leila Abdul-Rauf’s “Distortions in Phantasy I: Lure”
Leila Abdul-Rauf—member of death metallers Vastum, heavy metal titans Hammers of Misfortune and dark ambient group Ionophore, among others—released her solo album Phantasiai via Cyclic Law last month. Today, she’s shared a new video from one of its tracks, “Distortions In Phantasy I: Lure,” a haunted instrumental work that mostly navigates within the ambient sphere while carrying shades of ’80s goth music such as Dead Can Dance or The Cocteau Twins at their most supernatural. It’s gorgeous and chilling, an eerie and fragile visit from an apparition, complete with dark visuals of swirling smoke and other abstract imagery.
Leila Abdul-Rauf says in a statement, “Moving away from the warm dulcet tones of my previous work, ‘Lure’ sets the stage for what is to come: a glimpse into a mind slowly devolving into non-existence. Glock-melodies hammer like dripping icicles as dissonant seraphic calls beguile and beckon one into the perverse symphony of Phantasiai. Ionophore co-conspirator Jan Hendrich’s entrancing visual interpretation reveals a world of gauzy ethereality reminiscent of times past, hypnotizing us into the Void.”
Watch the video, created by Jan Hendrich, below, and hear the full album here.
Ionophore’s Knells and Leila Abdul-Rauf’s Diminution are both featured on our list of Hidden Gems to Buy on Bandcamp Friday.
Jeff Terich is the founder and editor of Treble. He's been writing about music for 20 years and has been published at American Songwriter, Bandcamp Daily, Reverb, Spin, Stereogum, uDiscoverMusic, VinylMePlease and some others that he's forgetting right now. He's still not tired of it.