TOTEM, Andi Holm (drums); Peter Østergaard Christensen (bass/vocals) and Iain Strachan Strachan (guitar), are a Danish combo based in Odense. the band first came to Desert Psychlist's attention via their debut EP "E. Xtended P. Lay" a three song riffcentric opus boasting grooves that regularly crossed back and forth between heavy desert rock and low'n'slow stoner doom. The bands next release "In Session" saw a change in the bands line-up with original bassist/vocalist Daniel Kethelz making way for Østergaard Christensen the result of which saw the bands music moving in a much more raw sludgy and off-kilter direction. This year (2024) the band return to with another three song EP "Solitude", a release that sees the band striking a balance between the differing dynamics of the first two EP's while also filtering in elements of space and heavy psych, thanks in part to the synth and keyboard contributions of mixing and mastering wizard Michael Hansen Buur
First out of the box comes "Mirror" Strachan Strachan's circular guitar riff soon joined by Østergaard Christensen' slow grizzled bass and Holm's tight but surprisingly non-thunderous percussion in a groove that is doomic yet not typical of the genre. Vocals then join the fray with Østergaard Christensen's tones, a distinctive mix of goth rock croon and punkish sneer, adding an unexpected element of off centred quirkiness to the proceedings especially with Hansan Burr's synths and keyboards swirling away in the background. Second song "Strange" is what it says it is, a weird but wonderful mix of doom, desert and psych blessed with a vocal that warbles and wavers in a key only Østergaard Christensen could possibly tell you he's singing in. It would be easy to chalk this song of as chaotic but there is structure to be found here, albeit a schizophrenic, untamed and severely warped version of structure. Final song "Solitude" reigns in some of that schizophrenia, the band almost succeeding in sounding like a four to the floor rock band in places, but it is not long before the chaotic nature of the band music finds itself a foothold and things progress to the fade angular and off-piste.
There will be those who will find TOTEM's "Solitude" a bridge too far, put off by the untamed nature of its grooves and the unique and unusual vocal tones that accompany those grooves. However for every five people who dismiss what the band here do as too angular or too disorderly there will be one who gets it, we at Desert Psychlist number ourselves among those who get it, what about you?
Check 'em out ....
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