INEZONA is the alias of the Swiss-based singer, percussionist and guitarist Ines Brodbeck. If the name is new to you, then I strongly recommend you go and check her third solo album, Now (if only to contrast this new single), which found her tracing her Latin American roots and finding a kindred soulmate in the form of Gabriel Sullivan (XIXA). Also on that album were musicians from Calexico, Bob Dylan, Neko Case and Giant Sand. While Sullivan features on the forthcoming album Heartbeat (out on 30th June via Czar of Crickets), the first single, Midnight Circle, a collaboration with Frederyk Rotter of the Swiss-based metal band Zatokrev, has a very different feel, a hint at Brodbeck’s desire to explore and progress her sound beyond the boundaries of genre. After hearing this new single, I’m left in no doubt that great things are to follow and that Heartbeat may well prove to be one of her most exciting albums to date.
Filmed by Baschi Thommen, the accompanying video for Midnight Circle greets us with filmic otherworldly woodland, accentuating the stillness and mystical feel offered by synth-bass the spacious extended guitar lines. Rotter’s voice opens…then joined by Brodbeck, slow churning, almost chant-like, giving the song a detached psychedelic edge, a little similar in feel to Arborea’s Red Planet.
Like Thommen’s sundrenched transitions in the video, Midnight Circle has a story-like feel, as Brodbeck leads us into a second, almost bluesy movement on which her vocals contrast so well with the swirling psych opening. While over six minutes long, Midnight Circle feels far more epic in scale and highlights how well Brodeck is able to lead the listener through attention-grabbing transitions that warp our perception of time. Her beautiful visual music highlights the dark and light shades of life, mortality and mystery. There are many highlights – the harmonies and accompanying kaleidoscopic visuals to Brodbeck’s wondrously choreographed movements as she sings “new sensations, like falling stones’; the immense oncoming wall of sound before we go full circle, calming the waters with Rotter’s psychedelic chants, like the wheel of life.
Midnight Circle is an exhilarating delight to watch and listen to. Masterfully executed, it bodes incredibly well for what’s to come.
Midnight Circle was written with Frederyk Rotter (vocals, screams, drone guitars) and recorded with Fabian Gisler (synth bass) and Eric Gut (drums) during lockdown in Switzerland; the song got graced with guitar lines of Gabriel Sullivan (XIXO, Giant Sand).
Midnight Circle is the opening chord of the upcoming album Heartbeat INEZ recorded at One Drop Studio, Basel, before the pandemic started. Heartbeat will be released on Rotters Label, Czar of Crickets (30th June).
Pre-Order Heartbeat here: https://www.czarshop.com/product/inezona-heartbeat/
Website: https://www.inezona.ch/