Some things always resonate with you on a more profound level than others. It’s not even necessarily an indication of merit or excellence, albeit the two tend to walk in hand in hand with the above scenario. These things can be literally anything, but the notion of it is perhaps best understood and shared through artistic mediums, music, visual arts, stuff like that. It’s rather important to have these experiences as humans, as otherwise our weary treks through this globe would be bereft of a lot. Emotions, after all, tend to transcend language. On that note, I’ll cease yapping and trust the process that showing you is just easier in every way than telling you.
Bank Myna released a new album titled Eimuria a year ago, which we also reviewed here. I’ve also personally covered them in the past, and can speak for all of us here by saying we’re more than glad to continue on that path. Earlier this year the ritualistic dark post-rock/doom quartet recorded a live session in Chapelle des Petits-Augustins (Beaux-Arts de Paris), and today we are happy to bring you the 18-minute audiovisual barrage together with the band. Occasionally I wish I had the heart to believe in higher spirits, but on days like this, it’s easy to imagine how that’d feel like.
Both picturesque and colossal, the live session is but constant candy for the ears and eyes, and pretty overwhelming as such. In the opening paragraph I mentioned about merit and excellence, both aspects of which are plastered across your senses quite effortlessly above. The pivotal scene obviously adds a lot of emphasis to how everything looks and by extent sounds like, and I would personally sacrifice a sacrificial thing or two to see Bank Myna in this setting,
The band weighed in on the project and its significance;
‘We were not looking for a place to perform, but for a space that could convey the scale and texture of our music. In the Chapelle des Petits Augustins, we were drawn in by the stones, charged with history and emotion, with fragments of past lives, and by the shifting light that shapes the space and reveals its contours. This live session was born from this encounter, between the solemnity of the place and our desire to extend it.‘ — Maud Harribey, vocals, violin
There’s a lot to identify with in the above statement. Even if you’re not particularly keen on what things stand for per se or why they were build for, the appreciation towards history, aesthetics, craftsmanship, and indeed emotion, are something that should weigh heavily on all meaningful meters. You can contest the existence of Gods, or the idea of a soul, whathaveyou, but you can not contest reality — what have been and what is. It’s of utmost importance to understand these things, and I personally love it when bands and artists put effort into immaterializing existence in ways that would otherwise be quite impossible to convey.
Having “No Ocean of Thoughts” and “The Shadowed Body” as the songs showcased here, is a pristine move by the band thanks to their inherent dynamics and the way they explore each and every nook and cranny Bank Myna is truly about. Whether swirling gigantic walls of sound or the most discreet quiet nuances, the entirety of the live session is one continued catharsis for eighteen minutes straight, and honestly, I wouldn’t have minded to watch and hear two hours of it.
The live session is officially out on the 20th, and can be pre-ordered (with links to highly limited physical items) through Bank Myna‘s Bandcamp page, so better do yourself a favor and secure a copy of history on physical format was as well. Meanwhile I’ll take the live for a thousandth spin.
Promo photo by Pierre Sopor Montali
