The London-based Sons of Viljems deliver a captivating journey into a subtly twisted sonic portrait on their new single “Jelena,” which is available now. The song ebbs and flows with natural-feeling, free-flowing rhythms like those with which water might approach and recede along a shore.
The song begins with subtly piercing tones that swirl into and out of each other in an ominous haze, before emotionally weighty yet sonically subdued riffing emerges, which is followed in turn by the gradual emergence of increasingly prominent percussion rhythm as the song reaches the mid-point. There’s a slow soulfulness running through the whole song, like the band are performing some previously long-forgotten, under-appreciated folk tale, but the free-flowing structure makes that tale almost seem mystically distant, like the tweaks to actual reality that have popped up in our imagination have been captured in sonic form.
The soft singing in the song amplifies the folk-like experience to great effect, and taken together, the soft soulfulness throughout the track makes the song’s experience feel especially emotionally accessible. Via hitting play, you can just step right into the song’s world of floating horizons.
In the latter segments of the song, each of the track’s components, from the wisps of key tones to the ethereal percussion, appear together to great effect. The song’s feeling proves quite immersively poignant, and the track seems like it could serve as a great soundtrack to some moment in a film in which a character journeys towards a meeting that they have been seeking for some time.
Sons of Viljems includes Nejc Haberman (who doubles as bass player for the Slovenian ethno-jazz ensemble Jazoo) alongside Andrea Giommi, who also creates as a composer, guitarist, and bassist for psych-noise acts including The Emerald Leaves, Edible Woman, and Leg Leg. Film composer Filip Sijanec has also joined the group for composition and live performances.
Check out the song below!
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