New Audio: Taxidermy Shares a Bruising and Unsettling Ripper

Copenhagen-based experimental noise/post-punk outfit Taxidermy — Osvald Reinhold (vocals, guitar), Toke Brejning Frederiksen (guitar), Joachim Lorch-Schierning (bass) and Johan Knutz Haavik (drums) — have quickly established a sound that draws from math rock, No Wave, post-hardcore and emo among a list of others. 

Thematically, the Danish quartet’s work sees them exploring the unease and disquiet of contemporary existence through delving into the cryptic and disorientating, the claustrophobic and the surreal. Crafting material anchored around unpredictable arrangements, raw and visceral textures, broad dynamic range and intense emotional delivery, the members of the Copenhagen-based outfit actively challenges the listener to confront the discomfort of the unknown. 

On the heels of last year’s attention grabbing Coin EP, the Danish outfit’s forthcoming follow-up Let Go EP will feature, “Impending,” a single that simultaneously cements their reputation for crafting brooding post-punk while subtly expanding upon their sound with alternating ethereal and atmospheric verses and the scorching, power chord-driven hooks and choruses that would Steve Albini proud. 

Let Go EP‘s latest single, EP title track “Let Go” is a bruising bit of skronky and noisy post-punk/grunge built around a classic grunge song structure with alternating quieter verses with cinematic strings and Reinhold crooning lyrics and explosive choruses and hooks with Reinhold’s urgent shouts. The song captures a heartbroken and desperate narrator, who vacillates between despair, self loathing and hatred — sometimes within the turn of a phrase.

The band’s Reinhold explains that the lyrics capture “a weakened and darkened mind, with a cynical, bleak view of itself and its surroundings.” He goes on to explain that the song was written after the experience of falling out of love. “It’s a deeply personal song for me, as it captures the essence of a weakened and darkened mind, with a cynical, bleak view of itself and its surroundings. It depicts a repeating cycle of actions in an inescapable loop of destructive behavior and presents the troubling notion that we are all self-absorbed individuals who can only briefly be persuaded to believe in unions of any kind, and for a fleeting moment, we may get along. But inevitably, we return to a hostile status quo, distancing ourselves because, ultimately, that’s easier.”