Article by: Connor Gruensfelder
Wandermere, a talented producer and DJ, launched his EP Black Mass on Thursday, October 27 via Rising Heat Music, and the electronic music community would be wise to take notice. Known for his skills as a producer, Wandermere blends his unique musical inspirations into his own epic poem for his debut project.
The artist known as Wandermere was born and raised in San Diego, CA and currently attends Yale University studying philosophy. As a child, he was surrounded by different musicians and composers ranging from Hans Zimmer to Norwegian Black Metal, and he developed a love for exploring the space between them. Music became second nature to him, as he practiced guitar for five hours a day for six straight years to grow into the artist he is now. He fuses his love for deep, orchestral textures with the crushing riffs and soaring melodies he plays on the guitar.
Wandermere explores the concept of duality in his music. Perhaps nowhere is this more evident than in one of the tracks on Black Mass called “Fallen God.” The song explores John Milton’s epic poem Paradise Lost — a quasi-biblical tale of Satan’s challenge to divine authority and suppression of freedom of thought.
The ballad starts with vocalist Meredith Yokoyama singing from the perspective of Satan as he overlooks his new kingdom — a world scorched by fire and defined by loneliness. The song builds upon Meredith’s vocals and creates a heavy but melodic mixture of euphoria and anguish. These conflicts provide the ideology for all of Wandermere’s tracks; he believes that considering all perspectives isn’t just a necessity in life, but in music as well.
His music places emphasis on pondering the darker side of human emotional experience, musing: “Past all the dark imagery and mild apostasy, I think there’s a real value in exploring the less glamorous parts of existence. A life without happiness is a shallow one, but I think the same is true of sadness, melancholy, or anger. They’re all unique features of human existence — we laugh, we cry, we scream — and they give each other meaning. They reveal parts of ourselves we couldn’t find otherwise and push us to become more complete people. There are few conditions as bleak as complacency.”
Black Mass represents a larger tale created by each individual short-poem song. Composed of six tracks, the EP begins with a gentle yet unsettling prelude featuring a beautiful cello section. The remainder of the project captivates the listener with an exemplary blend of Wandermere’s hallmark orchestral elements and ear-shattering bass. Stream Black Mass and follow Wandermere using the links below.
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