Track Premiere: Witness the Delicate Majesty of Neo-Folk/Goth Project IJdelheid

Readers of this fine mess of a blog will undoubtedly have encountered my love and admiration for Dutch avant-garde black metal trailblazers Grey Aura. Other than releasing last year's AOTY (you can read our interview with the band about that album here), they represent one of those rare moments of honest, real artistic expression and curiosity. Given all that love, then, it was a real honor to be able to host the newest track from the debut album by IJdelheid, the brain/soul child of Grey Aura frontman and multi-instrumentalist Ruben Wijlacker. The album will be out via the wonderful Onism Productions next month, and so be sure to pre-order everything here.

But while Grey Aura rattles inside the wide inventory that is black metal, IJdelheid is a heartfelt exploration of a wide array of melancholy sounds – from neo-folk, goth, world music, post-rock, and classical. Producing, I guess, a sound that could possibly be described as Enya's gothy black metal-listening sister.

Wildly beautiful, mesmerizing, and impeccably put together Wijlacker's IJdelheid would fit right into the musical canon of those invested in anything from 80s post-punk, Tom Waits, Rope Sect, Depeche Mode, or Nick Cave to the aforementioned Enya (Enya rules, btw). And speaking of Rope Sect, the track featured here, the brilliant "The Onset of Grand Decay," really works into those gothic-yet-poppy sounds that make that project so compelling. Check it out below.

By the way, since you're hanging around listening to this beautiful track anyway, you might as well check out our various interview projects and other cool shit. And if you'd like to keep abreast of the latest, most pressing developments follow us wherever we may roam (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Spotify and now also a tape-per-day series on TIK TOK!), and listen to our shitty podcast (YouTube, Spotify, Apple), and to check out our amazing compilation albums. You can support our unholy work here (Patreon), if you feel like it. Early access to our bigger projects, weekly exclusive recommendations and playlists, and that wonderful feeling that you're encouraging a life-consuming habit.