Avi C. Engel: Strangling Vine EP
(self-released)
CD/ DL
Out Now
Avi C. Engel returns with an EP of serene magic. Andy Brown reviews the Strangling Vine EP for Louder Than War.
“There’s another world inside this one…”
There are layers of magic to uncover with the music produced by singer-songwriter Avi C. Engel (they/ them). The Strangling Vine EP presents us with five celestial song sculptures carved from cigar box guitar, acoustic guitar, gudok, talharpa, ukulele, percussion and voice. Honestly, if that voice doesn’t hold you captive then you’re just not listening closely enough. Engel’s lyrics invoke both the earthy splendour of a forest at the stroke of midnight and the starry expanse that hangs above. This imagery is reflected in the instrumentation, with Engel’s affinity for folk and blues sitting comfortably alongside ambient sensibilities and an undeniably experimental impulse. The songs on the EP occupy a liminal space, nestled between the soil and the stars.
What began as a set of improvisations has transformed into a meditative, twenty-five-minute trip. The tracks here include a ten-minute piece that started life as a reinterpretation of a Delta Blues song before morphing into something that is entirely and unmistakably Engel’s own. The songwriting is untethered from convention and structural restrictions. I like a big, catchy chorus as much as anyone but that isn’t what I listen to Avi C. Engel for. The music simply flows from the speakers, unencumbered by compromise and commercial concerns. Infused with what Engel calls a “fallible human quality.” This isn’t the kind of music that AI will ever be able to convincingly imitate. Of course, I was replaced by a robot two years ago… but that’s another story.
Strangling Vine begins with the gentle, plucked strings of Kitsune; Engel singing of buried bones and fox skulls hanging in trees. What would no doubt sound a tad maudlin in lesser hands, sounds utterly soulful and serene. In these songs, death, love and nature sit side by side. The title comes from Japanese mythology and a shapeshifting spirit that often takes the appearance of a fox. Like David Tibet with his preoccupation with cats, foxes appear frequently throughout Engel’s work.
Eat My Mind is an incredibly sparse piece, with minimalistic percussion accompanied by weeping gudok and talharpa. You can feel the world and its worries fall away as the singer repeats a crystal-clear mantra: “Wash me in your fire/ Eat my mind/ Light overflowing/ There’s blood in my eyes.” Incidental Cave Music is a melancholic instrumental built around a lonesome acoustic guitar and a strange, shifting soundbed. It’s only a few minutes long but I could get lost in it for hours.
Owl Flies Home is the aforementioned ten-minute piece. A chiming, dreamlike lullaby that drifts from “suburban streets” to the nest of a slumbering owl. Close your eyes and enter Engel’s enchanting, nocturnal world. It’s like an unexpectedly existential episode of Springwatch. Strangling Vine ends on a gently beatific note with the unquestionably lovely, I Walk Beside So Many Ghosts. Easily the most traditional song on the EP, it feels like some great uncovered alt-folk classic. The kind of recording you would expect to hear from someone like Karen Dalton. “I miss you like dead rivers/ Forms no word can hold” they sing as my troubled heart melts. A song that finds peace and serenity amongst the “volcanic ash and morning dew.”
While the EP is not unlike other releases by the Toronto-based songwriter, it remains quite unlike anyone else. Engel is prolific and if you delve through their discography – which I highly advise you do – you’ll hear how it subtly evolves. The singer has actually described their music as, “one long continuous song that will end when I die.” Most would struggle to follow an album like Too Many Souls – released earlier this year – but the EP simply feels like the next step in Engel’s lifelong journey. I’m just happy to be along for the ride. There’s another world inside this one and you can find it with a pair of headphones and a copy of Strangling Vine.
~
You can find Avi C. Engel on Facebook, Instagram, Patreon and Bandcamp.
All words by Andy Brown. You can visit his author profile and read more of his reviews for Louder Than War here.
We have a small favour to ask. Subscribe to Louder Than War and help keep the flame of independent music burning. Click the button below to see the extras you get!
