Insect Ark’s electronic doom meshes synths and live drums playing off gorgeous lap steel guitar to create dynamic harmonies and hypnotising rhythms, resulting in music that is industrial in nature and dark in tone.
Dana Schechter’s project began life as a solo exercise but recently added drummer Ashley Spungin (Taurus) to the ranks in order to round out the percussion sounds.
Schechter has long been involved in music and Insect Ark is her outlet for further experimentation, with Portal/Well being a record that ebbs with corrupted beats yet often allows cracks of light and serenity to edge through the darkness. Portal/Well is a bombastic beginning that cycles through heady percussive passages and pushes into the dissonant steps of The Collector, before stepping back into the subtle and quiet Lowlands, the first of two small interludes that allow a moment for breath and thought before the gloom overwhelms again. Low Moon closes Portal/Well on strange creations of sound that echo in the night and give the record a haunted atmosphere that resonates long after its vibrations are over.
