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 by Richard Quinlan
It requires rare talents for a band to connect emotionally with listeners without the benefit of a vocalist, yet Vipassi, a globe-spanning group of virtuosos from Australia, France, and England, do that with remarkable ease. I had the good fortune to speak with the band’s drummer, Dan Presland, about the band, songwriting, and how his plans to open a restaurant led to a recording studio.
Lightless is Vipassi’s second record, following the release of Sunyata in 2017, and the new material is rightfully receiving a significant push from the band’s label, Season of Mist. The origin of the band dates back to 2008 with Presland and friends simply jamming and having fun. As the songs slowly materialized, Presland noted how the absence of a frontman could allow the playing “to capture the imagination” of those who are listening. It was obvious from the beginning that Vipassi’s musical goal was to bring listeners on a journey wrought with atmospheric compositions, and the name of the band reflects this intent. In Buddhist tradition, Vipassi is the name of the twenty-second of the twenty-eight Buddhas and is connected with clarity of thought and contemplation.
The depth of the band’s moniker acts an ideal metaphor for the music itself-it requires quiet contemplation and internal analysis to begin to grasp Vipassi is doing. Lightless is not an album of background music, but a piece to be heard in its entirety and studied. Each song can be dissected and analyzed-this does not take away from the enjoyment, as Lightless is a record of mystical beauty, but there are many levels to be investigated should one choose. Surrounded by Ben Boyle on guitars and keys, bassist Arran McSporran, and second guitarist Benjamin Baret, Vipassi perform a symphonic mixture of instrumental sophistication and relentless intensity. The eight songs are sinewy in their structure, weaving across numerous genres, ultimately creating something entirely new. The capacity to construct some sublime, intricate pieces without all sharing the same room is due largely to the relationship between the members as Presland notes, “we each have a very good understanding of each other” and the work becomes “seamless to the variety of musical environments” shared by the members.
Fittingly, the construction of such polygonal songs is not a linear process, with much of the writing coming in bursts of inspired genius from Boyle as he battles bouts of insomnia. Presland describes his friend as “a highly prolific writer who can write two songs in two days” at times. Ben’s ideas are then shared with the other members who add their own distinctive styles to the initial concept, with as Presland describing the songwriting process as the ability to see “landscapes and translate them to the instruments”. Lightless is a record nearly a decade in the making, as the kernel of the idea that became “Labyrinthine Hex” was spawned over seven years ago, while the closing, ten-minute oeuvre “Promethea” was far more recent.
Like the other members in Vipassi, Presland described himself as having “a rock upbring”, and he noted Led Zeppelin as a particular influence. Music became the premiere passion in Presland's life, but it was not his only possible path. What became his recording studio was originally going to be something very different: He laughed as he told the story, noting, that “just as Covid was hitting I had plans to open my own restaurant.” As the world became overrun and largely shut down by Covid, Presland “took six months and built a studio, so I can record any time I like, and it is being used to record other bands as well.” The studio means a great deal to Presland and Vipassi, as for now they are only a studio at without plans to tour.
One has to wonder how Presland can even find the time for a project as demanding as Vipassi, when one considers his time in Ne Obliviscaris and Black Lava, a band has new music on the horizon and a possible summer tour. According to the drummer, he and his bandmates are “so emotionally invested [in Vipassi] that it was easy to find the time to create” and be inventive. Vipassi provides an outlet for Presland as well. He notes that he taps into “different blocks of the brain for each of the bands” in which he plays and the progressive nature of Vipassi allows him to “push his creative side”, resulting in “more fun” as a songwriter.
Fortunately, Lightless is merely a step forward in the evolution of Vipassi and not the end. Presland noted that there are plans to “start the project again” and see where the collective creativity of the members takes them in the future. For now, there are a variety of endeavors that will keep Presland busy throughout 2024 but Vipassi is forefront in his mind. This is a brilliant record that carries listeners through an otherworldly experience of dazzling musicianship and genre-decimating erudition.
To learn more about Vipassi, click here...
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