Album Review: Haunter

Haunted. Haunting. Haunter.

Felix Danilo’s new release Haunter is a cinematic trip.
Cinematic being the operative word.
But also trip, though it’s more a journey.

From what I’ve read and heard and seen of Danilo, such is their schtick.

Prolific in their output, no doubt due to the gaping maw that is the youthful urge to create, they’re making art not songs. Painting landscapes though soundscapes. Their releases, more soundtrack than album. Something to be swallowed whole, rather than nibbled, which is the antithesis of – and a middle finger to – the drip-feed buffet method of absorbing music adopted by the Spotify generation.

Like Afterwards, Oblivion and 2021’s Moonscapes before it, the chosen cover art makes it feel like it was decided before the music was even composed, as if the music is a reflection of the art. Like a nihilist to the void, Danilo staring into the fire, guitar in hand, Haunter playing back.

With Haunter, this time we’re looking down from the cosmos, below the misty hills and valleys, deep into the earth itself, to where our immortal souls are tormented for aeons for what we’ve done to the world around us.
Hell… I’m talking about hell. Satan and all that.
Though it could be anthems for the cultists of Cthulhu.
If there were more oceans and creaking hulls.

Danilo’s impression of such a place, this conflagrated world we’re engulfed in, is full of dark, yet ethereal, droning ambience. Atmospheric, cathedric and cathartic.

While Haunter was a fun little sojourn into the less trodden tranches of the music world, this untended scrubland alongside the mainstream, it’s nearly impossible to review such a thing.

What can I possibly say about sparse beats and negligible vocals that would make the unenlightened understand?
Controlled noise, a few degrees in complexity above a cat traipsing along an electric piano, at others harnessed chaos.
That may be how it sounds when you’re not listening.

Deeper down. it’s a mixture of complimentary, or sometimes contrasting waveforms, both found and forged. Water trickles, flame flickers, guitar licks, the operatic dirge of an unholy mass. Orchestral, with undulating choral sections, sparse guitar lines and echoing arpeggiation. Building and darkening as the tracks progress.
The occasional overdriven climax.

I can tell you the parts, or what’s in it, but I can’t really tell you how it feels, or sounds.
Kind of the opposite of American confectionery.
Haunter needs to be experienced to be truly heard.
It’s really a shame I missed the listening event in the appropriate setting of Old Saint Paul’s.

So, go experience it. Swallow it whole – the first track isn’t enough. Sit back and enjoy the ride. Put it on and read some Poe. Don’t put it on when working from home. “I hope this finds you well” emails fill you with enough existential dread as it is. Or maybe do, if you need an excuse to find a new job.

You can find Haunter on the Felix Danilo Bandcamp.
Recommended for those who associate “Gothic” with castles, ghosts, and architecture, rather than Roman conquest, or the attire you see down at Valhalla in Wellington sometimes.