Listen: Vukari’s Divination Is Demon

There’s a space between downtrodden and plain depressing, and Vukari find that space on their chaotic new album, Divination. These aren’t songs of the defeated. In fact, Divination lives and breathes hard; it’s somewhat un-depressing; the horizon is lit, the streetlights are on. Still, it’s not uplifting.

In that sense, Divination is bona fide introspective and postmodern, each track a different path, all of which intersect finally at a single point. A listener can be carried away, lullabied a bit, but still spurred to make horns and hiss like a fucking demon. This is ethos, and it follows Vukari onstage, as I witnessed in February on a bill they shared with Vattnet Viskar and Young and in the Way (violent as fuck, btw). You don’t see Vukari, you experience them.

In ways, Divination (below) is fury restrained, its force buttery smooth. Through this emerges atmosphere: raw, elegant, moody, sick, and despairing; long, careful passages of doom; pillow-like softness and a dab of hope before the guns again blare. When they do, it’s goosebumps.

Vukari’s  Divination is out Monday via Bindrune. Pre-order it here and here.