There is a scene in the film "Barton Fink" where the wallpaper in the hotel room of the titular character begins to bubble and peel, revealing a sickly sticky goo. The wallpaper, and its distortions, is symbolic of Fink's state of mind and his slow but certain crawl toward insanity. If there is one image that comes to mind for me while listening to Indignant Senility's epic "Plays Wagner" album, it is that wallpaper bubbling and peeling, exposing an otherworldly horror behind it.
Indignant Senility is the brainchild of a one Pat Maherr or Portland, Oregon, who has apparently tried his hand at everything from hip-hop to musique concrete. "Plays Wagner" is his foray into dark ambient. The title should be taken literally, as the source material for the album is, indeed, Richard Wagner's bombastic classical music. By the time Maherr is finished slowing it down, distorting it and submerging it in that sticky goo behind the wallpaper, though, Wagner's work is unrecognizable, save for the occasional snippet of melody that breaks through the murk only to immediately dissolve back into Maherr's gray scale work.
Classical music has served as modern ambient source material before. Wagner himself served as the source material for some of Wolfgang Voigt's highly influential Gas project. But whereas one could hear the classical origins of Gas bleed through the haze, here it is so stretched out that you wouldn't have any idea that Maherr was manipulating Wagner, without prior knowledge. Instead more apt touchstones are Philip Jeck and William Basinski, but Indignant Senility is more muted, more disturbed than either of their work. Type label head John Twells compares "Plays Wagner" to David Lynch's harrowing "Eraserhead" soundtrack. That description is apt. This is creepy and unsettling music. It may not be for everyone, but for those with a taste for dark ambient, there is plenty here to submerge yourself in while staring at the wallpaper, watching it bubble and peel.
Indignant Senility - Plays Wagner by _type
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