I knew an American project called Wyrm (which actually means ‘serpent’), but it was a Texas-based Drone entity. But that has nothing to do with this review. There is (was) also a project with the very same name from Tennessee, which involves Le Scrambled Debutante frontman Allan Zane as sole permanent member (there are several guest and session musicians that did co-operate) and which was active during the first decade of this century. Allan did not record that many stuff under this moniker (he had several other aliases too, and different collaborations and guest appearances, cf. John Murphy, Nocturnal Emissions or GX Jupitter-Larsen), but Wyrm might be (one of) my favourite(s) out of all of them.
Divination Bones is a 7”EP, originally released as picture-single in 2010, and repressed afterwards. Besides Allan, this incarnation included Liz Lang (Auracene) as well. The vinyl-only release consists of two pieces, the title track and Adam Coils, and it includes new artwork. For the label, Drone Records, it was the second picture single (the first one was one for Cranio-Clast), and as said, repressed soon after. The material was initially recorded in late Summer 2008, but it took some time before it got released officially.
This ‘construction of aural amalgamations of genres’ indeed mixes several related styles, varying from Electro-Acoustics over Abstract, Drone, Ambient and Experimental. Both compositions consist of different layers, rich on droning sequences, ambient melodies, waving noises and a collage of different crackling or even mantric sounds and samples. The result has something mysterious, ominous and intriguing, even post-terrestrial, if you want to, with authentic, even archaic structures and an unworldly atmosphere. Like a floating wave of sonic mystery, this two-track EP both mesmerizes and captures, with a hidden richness behind the, at first listen, minimalistic approach.
It takes only ten minutes, but open-minded fans of Zoviet France, Hafler Trio, Solumenata (the successor, evidently…), and the likes might know what to search for…