Chicago-based atmospheric ensemble, VARAHA, have today unveiled details of a new single – featuring members of Napalm Death, SubRosa and Veil of Maya – which was entirely recorded during the lockdown necessitated by Covid-19. The track, titled Reves is a re-imagining of the track Severance from their 2019 album, A Passage For Lost Years. A trailer for the track – created by Chariot of Black Moth – can be viewed below, and the single will be available digitally on June 26.
The track represents the idea of making amends, of finding new hope and discovering a strength in the face of adversity. VARAHA’s Fabio Brienza elaborates on the origins of the song:
“I realised that a lot of the lyrics on the album had taken on a different meaning for me due to the pandemic, and I started to think about re-working some of the music. I took a special segment of Severance and I expanded on it, and I created a song of its own to reflect what I was going through during the self-isolation days. I invited our friends who made an appearance on our album, and I reached out to others too.
“I am immensely grateful of the support from my bandmates, from Chuck Bontrager of the musical Hamilton, from Sarah and Kim of Subrosa, from Mitch of Napalm Death, from audio engineer Nick Broste, from Sam Applebaum of Veil of Maya, from Erik Rasmussen’s advice and counsel, and overall we are extremely grateful of all the people within the music community who believed in us and wanted to join this crazy long distance recording project – we were all stoked to be doing this pandemic piece, and everyone worked extremely hard with whatever recording gear they had at home, and we all became one.”
A full list of the contributors is as follows:
Performers:
Fabio Brienza: Vocals, Guitars, Drones (VARAHA)
Joel Hollis: Guitars (VARAHA)
Bryan Gold: Bass (VARAHA)
Sam Applebaum: Drums (Veil Of Maya)
Mitch Harris: Guitars (Napalm Death)
Eric Dupuis: Guitars (Widmore)
Chuck Bontrager: Violin (Hamilton musical – concertmaster)
Sarah Pendleton: Violin (SubRosa)
Kim Cordray: Violin (SubRosa)
Nota Barton: Cello (Mucca Pazza, Mono)
William Aldridge: Trombone (Third City Sound)
Nick Broste: Trombone, Mellotron (Mono, Ty Segall, Wilco)
Bruce Lamont: Soprano Saxophone (Yakuza, Corrections House, Led Zeppelin 2)