THE EPHEMERON LOOP — Psychonautic Escapism LP 2x12"

Born from the fractal innerworld of Vymethoxy Redspiders,better known as Urocerus Gigas from Leeds-based xenofeministcrisis energy rock duo Guttersnipe, The Ephemeron Loop'sdebut is a synaesthetic acid bath that cracks open the doors ofperception to reveal a sonic landscape of ineffable beauty,divine femininity and continual transformation."PsychonauticEscapism" sublimes Guttersnipe's teeth-gnashing spacegrindaesthetic leaving washes of dream pop ambience, dilatedspeedcore fusillades and shapeshifting psychedelic dub effects.It's an album that lodges itself creatively between CocteauTwins, Arca, Basic Channel and Napalm Death, lysergicallyfluxing imperceptibly between seemingly contradictory sonicsand philosophies. Miss VR took 14 long, difficult years to writethe album, which developed cautiously as she broke throughthe misery of her pre-transition life with shoegaze music, raveand psychedelic drugs in Leeds' queer underground. Anexistence languishing in negativity, soundtracked by extrememusic was replaced with the opportunity to experienceeuphoria, elation and ecstatic freedom, emotions that coalescesensually on "Psychonautic Escapism".These formativeexperiences are the album's initial building blocks, assembled between 2007 and 2018 as Miss VR came to grips with herreality as an autistic/ADHD trans woman and the multidimensional psychotropic experiences that assisted that realization. And as V's worldview expanded and shifted as she lived a fresh life, the music itself developed spiritually. In 2018,after being impressed with producer Ross Halden's work with Guttersnipe, Miss VR asked him to assist her with developing The Ephemeron Loop's fragmented songs and visions. "I learned a lot about why people don't usually combine various kinds of sounds or styles in music," she admits. "It is very difficult to get it to all work together!" But after two-and-a-half years of the duo navigating a "labyrinth of fragmented Reason 5 and Logicprojects," re-recording and processing, and working tirelessly oncomplex arrangements and compositions, they eventually founda light at the end of the tunnel. The finished album is toweringand ambitious, Escher-like in its illusory reconstruction offamiliar elements into brain-altering forms. The album beginswith 'Psychonautic Escapism (Cold Alienation)', decorating MissVR's disembodied moans with throbbing dub techno synths,insectoid digital percussion and disorientating high-BPMelectronics.Her vocals hover weightlessly between My Bloody Valentine's Bilinda Butcher and Cocteau Twins' Elizabeth Fraser, and on 'Lattice Dysmorphism of Lysothymic Oneiroid Cytoterrain' drift against grinding industrial hardcore kicks, serrated bass and Lorenzo Senni-esque trance pointillism. On 'Trench Through Pink Death', Miss VR's voice mutates into a shrill scream as she directs the music from splattered freeflowing doom into harsh hyper-speed death metal andbreakcore. Woven together with both precision and delicacy, "Psychonautic Escapism" turns a rough patchwork of ideas,experiences, feelings and vivid emotions into a glorious neontapestry. In living and exploring the realities of autism, ADHDand trans identity, Vymethoxy Redspiders has masterminded asonic language that feels fresh, urgent and shockingly honest.Psychedelic is a term that gets thrown around far too loosely atthe moment - in this case there's just no better way ofdescribing the album's scope.TechnoHardcoreBeatsAmbientBreakcoreExperimental