Releases

Heather and Birch Album

Release Date September 13, 2024
Label Primordial Void
Format CD/DL

Athens, Georgia producer Marcel Sletten’s fourth album is his most intense work to date. Fusing cavernous dub techno percussion with brutal passages of harsh noise wall, Heather and Birch is a far cry from the shimmering ‘80s synths of Vicious Kisses or the melancholic folktronica of Mammatus Clouds.

The layers of screeching feedback on Heather and Birch’s nine-minute opener, “Revenant,” are at times so distorted it sounds like Sletten is attempting to break the sound barrier. While cuts such as this one, “The Long Suicide,” and “Match” are clearly inspired by certain elements of dub and industrial techno, Heather and Birch’s unique blend of dance and noise sounds closer to Pan Sonic or Ben Frost than Basic Channel or Surgeon.

“Waterfront,” the album’s Actress-esque lead single, is easily one of Sletten’s most dancefloor-ready tracks, riding a blown-out dub groove until the track climaxes with a powerful wave of distorted ambient synths, sounding a bit like MBV jamming with Huerco S.

Side B’s opener “Elizabeth St, Red Hook, NY,” inspired by a weekend trip Sletten took to the Hudson Valley village last year, recalls some of the dark ambient compositions of California Delta Blues and Irish Words, fusing new age drones with amplifier feedback. It’s the only track on Heather and Birch that you could really call “ambient”; the rest of these tunes are straight-up dark and violent takes on club music, which Sletten seems to be fully immersed in at this stage of his career.

Lamb EP

Release Date April 26, 2024
Label Primordial Void
Format DL

The third EP from Athens, Georgia’s Marcel Sletten marks a stark stylistic shift from the producer’s previous ambient works. Blown-out bass, distorted percussion, and an overall foreboding atmosphere characterize the three tracks of Lamb.

Mammatus Clouds Album

Release Date May 5, 2023
Label Primordial Void
Format CS/DL

Primordial Void is proud to present Mammatus Clouds, the third full-length album by Athens, Georgia experimentalist Marcel Sletten. Mostly recorded between November 2021 and October 2022, while Sletten was coping with the loss of his cat and the dissolution of a relationship, Mammatus Clouds is a sprawling 16-track collection of ghostly ambient, folktronica, IDM, and classical pieces that reflect the landscapes of Northern California, Sletten’s homeland, and Athens, Georgia, his new stomping grounds.

Largely inspired by local heroes Elephant 6, Mammatus Clouds is a wildly eclectic set of tracks, jumping from genre to genre at a dizzying pace. Lead single “Ghost” is a psychedelic fusion of folk and ambient music, whereas its digital B-side “Pressure Drop,” featuring Atlanta singer/songwriter Reed Winckler on vocals, is an ethereal indie ballad complete with VST guitar twang. The one-two punch of “Close to You”’s ‘90s slowcore sound and “Russian Hill”’s demented Autechre-style fuckery perfectly demonstrates Sletten’s sonic adventurism. More unexpected influences follow: “The bassline and general feel of ‘Crying’ was inspired by Sonny & Cher’s 'The Beat Goes On' and Nancy Sinatra & Lee Hazlewood’s 'Some Velvet Morning', whereas ‘Everlasting Soul’ was penned as a bit of an homage to U.S. Girls’ 'The Island Song,'” he says.

Some may view Mammatus Clouds as a sister album to Irish Words and a Bottle of Myrrh, Sletten’s 2022 “Tusk-lite” CD-R, given the two feature the same amount of tracks and explore similar themes of loss and isolation. However, Mammatus Clouds feels like yet another artistic rebirth for Sletten, as it demonstrates the Athenian oddball delving deeper into the sounds of folk and dance music with fascinating results.

Although Sletten left his heart in Northern California, Mammatus Clouds tells us that he has found solace in Athens, piecing together psychedelic pop instrumentals with a barely-operable laptop and MIDI keyboard. It’s a beautiful, strange mess that sounds unlike anything else coming out of the murky Deep South right now.

Irish Words and a Bottle of Myrrh Album

Release Date February 25, 2022
Label Primordial Void
Format CD/DL

Recorded over the course of two years, Marcel Sletten’s Irish Words and a Bottle of Myrrh is a sprawling double album that sounds unlike anything the Athens, Georgia artist has ever released. The 16-track collection possesses strong jazz and classical influences, and blends an array of styles ranging from synth funk (“Myth”) to drone metal (“Void of Light”).

"I was listening to a lot of Prince, Stevie Wonder, and Al Green during the recording of Irish Words," Sletten says. "I wanted to make an electronic album that combined the raw energy of soul music with the spirit of piano pieces by composers such as Béla Bartók and Morton Feldman."

Irish Words serves as the follow-up to last year's Vicious Kisses. The album's cover art was designed by London artist Susu Laroche.

Vicious Kisses Album

Release Date August 27, 2021
Label Sound As Language / Primordial Void
Format CS/DL

The full-length debut from Athens, Georgia-based musician Marcel Sletten is a sardonic, romantic pop album. Described by Sletten as “Whitman/Titian-meets-Elvis Costello/Nick Cave,” Vicious Kisses was mostly recorded in a single week at the artist’s home in Lodi, California. “This is my insomnia album,” Sletten says, referring to Vicious Kisses’ emotionally turbulent late-night recording sessions.

Across eight synth-heavy tracks, Vicious Kisses incorporates elements of genres such as country, dub, jazz, and synthpop. The album’s centerpiece, “Sleepless Nights,” is equally inspired by ‘80s sophisti-pop and My Bloody Valentine; meanwhile, the blissed-out “Kali Yuga” blends processed lap steel with cello drones to create a singular, melancholic sound. Psychedelic folk music for the digital age.

California Delta Blues EP

Release Date April 2, 2021
Label Primordial Void
Format DL

California Delta Blues is the second EP by electronic musician Marcel Sletten. Recorded over the course of a year, the Primordial Void founder’s latest effort collects six pieces that evolved out of his late night studies of sacred music, murder ballads, and train songs. “My work is essentially folk music with an electronic bent,” Sletten says. “I’m drawn to the way artists such as Nick Cave and Tom Waits write about death and religion, and those are themes that I explore on my new EP.”

Featuring arrangements inspired by the baroque pop of Scott Walker and Serge Gainsbourg, California Delta Blues finds Sletten moving toward a darker and more minimal sound. The artist incorporates cosmic drone music (“Angel,” “Grace Cathedral Hymn”), black metal (“Jack Nance”), and electronic lullabies (“Cosumnes River Hymn,” “Unloved”) on the 12-minute EP, weaving a rich sonic tapestry that channels the spiritual energy of his native Northern California.

Marcel Sletten EP

Release Date January 15, 2021
Label Primordial Void
Format DL

"I recorded my self-titled debut EP over the course of a year. It consists of four folk-inspired pieces that reflect my experiences traveling throughout Northern California.

I consider this release to be the first example of a new genre called Zen Americana. Rooted in my own artistic philosophy of Honest Music, the tracks contained within channel the spiritual energy of the Bay Area, California Delta, and Sierra Nevada."

—Marcel Sletten