Heejin Jang - Souvenirs From Hell (V46)

After releasing two immense albums in 2023 (in both length and scope) with ‘Me & The Glassbirds’ and ‘Consistency’, Heejin Jang returns to Venalism with a more concentrated and direct release in ‘Souvenirs From Hell’. Crackling with a constant, restless invention, ’Souvenirs…’ finds Jang exploring and foreground rhythmic patterns and phrases mores than in her past work, but rather than using these patterns as a foundation to build upon, they instead form and collapse almost at random, working like accents and designations of prickly, anxiety-inducing tension and unease.

Running counter to this is the always prevalent substratum of glottal sub-bass textures, dark ambient washes and of growling sheets of noise that allow the skittery, impatient rhythmic ticks space to appear, develop and shatter in such rapid succession.

Heejin Jang has always been fearless about investigating abstract and echinated textures within electronic forms and with ‘Souvenirs…’ she balances wonderfully the ominous and dread-inducing mood with an intrusive, impatient and twitchy rhythmic agitation.

"Souvenirs from Hell is an album that captures the inner struggle of a person, consumed by deep pain, and then the process of escaping it. Heejin likens the seven tracks to the wanderings of those wandering through hell, small souvenirs received at the end of a long journey.

In ancient Greek mythology, heroes traveled to the underworld to achieve glory. Though the heroes once achieved what they desired there, they ended up losing the loved ones or facing eternal punishment because they disobeyed the underworld’s prohibitions. In modern psychology, the myths of those who visited the underworld are used to study and understand those experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder.

The album externalises the swirling emotions within ordinary modern people, not heroes, and the moments when wounds heal into scars through the sound and distortions."

All music created by Heejin Jang

More:
heejinjang.bandcamp.com

Released September 4th 2025. Venalism V46.