The solo endeavour of Seattle‘s David Kumler, Occult A/V is an electronic project which aims to “explore the relationships between human and the cosmic.” Beginning as an experiment with an analogue synthesizer and a distortion pedal, the project drew inspiration from across the electronic spectrum to eventually settle in its distinctive sound. The Occult A/V aesthetic owes as much to Mark Fisher as it does to the beats of J Dilla and Madlib, a hauntological style which sits between the ominous urban soundscapes of Pye Corner Audio and hostile clamour of Vatican Shadow.
This summer saw Occult A/V unveil Nightworks, a trilogy of EPs on Deathrage Records which push into the balance of earthly and otherworldly forces. From the dancey drones of Slow Fade Into Oblivion to the brighter, more nostalgic vibe of follow up What Was Forgotten Is Now Alive, Kumler holds up an image of human society both striking and slightly strange. Though in this strangeness he finds some higher truth. The influence of figures like Fisher and Adam Curtis is made apparent, a view where eeriness and peculiarity are not some deviation from reality but its underlying nature. A vision of a world that’s lonely and volatile and shot through with drastic action—plagued by its dark histories and aborted dreams.
Today sees the the release of the trilogy’s final EP, Speculative Apocalypse. Further pushing the balance from human warmth to cosmic weirdness, the release offers a sublime vision of the end of the world. One that exists beyond humanity, as captured in the distorted lead single ‘Corpses in Bloom’. Here the nostalgia is erased along with everything else, vapourised into the very abstract forces from which it all emerged. A phenomenon at once terrifying and glorious. The EPs serve “to remind us that human history is nothing more—and our lives nothing less—than reverberations of the big bang,” the label explain, and Occult A/V proves itself a project capable of outlining such weighty themes.