In May 1940 the great Argentinian writer Jorge Luis Borges, widely credited as a founder of “magical realism” in literature, published a story named “Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius“. In that mind-bending tale Borges was himself a protagonist. The plot concerns events going back as far as the early 17th century and culminates in a postscript, set in 1947. As summarized in The Font of All Human Knowledge:
“Told in a first-person narrative, the story focuses on the author’s discovery of the mysterious and possibly fictional country of Uqbar and its legend of Tlön, a mythical world whose inhabitants believe a form of subjective idealism, denying the reality of objects and nouns, as well as Orbis Tertius, the secret organization that created both fictional locations”.
That story inspired both the name of the new Scottish band Tlön and the lyrical themes of their debut EP Through Nebulous Scars — an astonishing mind-bender of its own that we’re helping spring upon an unsuspecting world today.
Tlön (the band) will be unknown to almost everyone reading these words, but its members aren’t newcomers. They include former participants in the now-defunct Haar, as well as Úir, Ashenspire, and others. They tell us this about the genesis of Tlön:
“When Haar finally ran its course, Hamish, Steve and Gerald were all keen to keep creating music together. We had a bunch of ideas already brewing and we knew that we had to get another band together.
“When it came to thinking of another guitarist and a vocalist, it was not a hard choice to make. Hamish and Steve have both played in Úir with Simon, whilst Gerald started playing in Ashenspire with Ben. Hamish and Ben grew up in the same place, north of Inverness, and have helped out in each other’s bands over the years.
“With Through Nebulous Scars, we were still seeking out the band’s sound. Initially it was more akin to the material we were working on latterly in Haar, but with Ben’s counterpoint guitar harmonies, introduction of keys, and Simon‘s distinctive vocals, they have helped us carve out a distinct sound as a band. We are all excited to see how things develop and are already well on our way to finishing writing our first full length.
“The lyrical themes explored within the EP draw inspiration from Borges’ short story “Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius”, after which the band derives its name. Exploring the intricate interplay between our perception of reality and the fluidity of time, each track unfolds as a narrative, inviting listeners to traverse realms of imagination where the boundaries of existence blur and mysteries abound.”
“Shattered Mirrors” provides a genuinely explosive and exhilarating start to the EP. With drums violently hammering and the bass vividly bubbling, the sound comes in strange and scorching waves, an amalgam of harsh abrasion and eerie flickering and wailing tones. Following a brazenly momentous bridge, unhinged vocals begin raging and the music reaches even greater heights of head-spinning delirium. The sound is dense and assaulting, but the mercurial movements of the bass and the cavorting of the drums remain prominent, as do the glittering spasms of the guitars, and so it seems like sorcery being practiced within a rapidly surging blast front.
As the song proceeds it becomes even more strangely wondrous, still surrounding the listener with brilliantly sparkling and discordant sensations and scorching screams, but infiltrated with a panoply of unpredictable maneuvers by each instrument — with the bass somehow holding it all together. By the end, it sounds like we’ve entirely left the world we think we know.
After that song, encountering a track named “Where Sanity Crumbles” may seem odd, because it feels like we’ve already been to that place. This follow-on song is less frantic and more mysterious at first, but no less richly textured, and ultimately it becomes just as thoroughly head-spinning. For some reason, parts of it made me think of crescendos within Gershwin’s “Rhapsody In Blue”, maybe because the guitars sometimes seem like brazen horns, and the rhythm section gets a bit jazzy. The guitars also sizzle and sear, and sometimes resemble the squirming of a saxophone. Sanity does indeed crumble, but the music elevates the ensuing insanity into grandeur, a kind of jubilant, deranged magnificence.
The EP ends (far too soon!) with the title song, “Through Nebulous Scars“. Heads will spin again, relentlessly. It’s no more sane nor more predictable than the first two tracks, though the overarching moods of this one seem more foreboding, more bleak, more frightening, and it includes episodes of rapidly jackhammering groove as well as a stunning cataclysm of instrumental mayhem and vocals that become so unhinged they put the hairs up on the back of a listener’s neck. Yet it also becomes strangely mesmerizing and transportive.
How to sum up this debut EP? Well, trying to do that is probably a fool’s errand. It’s extravagantly over the top in its intricacy, in its adventurousness, in the sheer exuberance and aplomb of the performances, in the thoroughly labyrinthine nature of the songwriting. “Progressive” is too tame a word; the amorphous term “avant-garde” might come closer. Or you might think of a roiling alchemical cauldron of ingredients from black metal, dissonant and technical death metal, prog-metal, and jazz.
Better yet, just gulp some deep breaths and then listen:
TLÖN is:
S.A. – Vocals
B.B. – Guitar
G.C. – Guitar
H.M. – Drums
S.S. – Bass
The EP was recorded, mixed, and mastered by B.B. It’s set for release on May 24th, and it’s available for pre-order now.
P.S. If you’re interested in reading the Borges story, you can find it here, without charge.
PRE-ORDER:
https://tlonband.bandcamp.com/album/through-nebulous-scars
FOLLOW TLÖN:
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61555005094885