Impure Wilhelmina: Prayers and Arsons (Get A Life, 11/25/08)
Impure Wilhelmina: “Cover Me With Kindness”
[audio:https://alarm-magazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/Impure-Wilhelmina-Prayers-And-Arsons-Cover-Me-With-Kindness_000.mp3|titles=Impure Wilhelmina: “Cover Me With Kindness”]The liner notes of Prayers and Arsons, the 2008 release from Swiss metal quartet Impure Wilhelmina, credit the City of Geneva Department of Culture for its support in making the record. In the United States, a “thank you” to any government organization by a hardcore band in any situation is largely unheard of, but in Switzerland (and several other arts-friendly countries), it’s a matter of routine.
Michael Schindl, guitarist and vocalist for Impure Wilhelmina, explains, “When we record, we pay approximately half of the money and the city helps with additional funds. All the bands in Geneva do this. If it is serious, you can have some money.” The financing helps to buy the band a luxury that it especially appreciates. “If we didn’t have this money, we could record, but we would have less time to make the record. This way, we know we can take a little more time.”
If Schindl has learned one thing since starting Impure Wilhelmina more than 12 years ago, it’s that taking one’s time often leads to the greatest results. “We were very young when we started,” he says. “We made a lot of mistakes in the beginning. Over the years, you learn a lot; you learn what not to do. Eventually, you begin to put out what you really feel, and not be too influenced by what you heard two weeks ago.”
Initially consisting of Schindl, his brother David on drums, and brothers Thierry and Didier Baertschiger respectively on guitar and bass, the band cut its teeth playing shows around Geneva and released a handful of singles and EPs before self-producing its first album, Afraid, in 1999. Bassist Mathias Perrin joined in 2000, collaborating on the colossal 2002 album I Can’t Believe I Was Born in July (Waiting For an Angel / Space Patrol Records), which helped the band establish a reputation for well-crafted and vivid, dark storytelling.
“Over the years, you learn a lot; you learn what not to do. Eventually, you begin to put out what you really feel, and not be too influenced by what you heard two weeks ago.”
Just after recording its follow-up, L’amour, la Mort, L’Enfance Perdue, in 2005, David and Thierry left Geneva to pursue their studies and were replaced by drummer Mario Togni and guitarist Christian Valleise (who also plays in Geneva’s sludge/grindcore outfit Knut). Once the new lineup was intact, the band set to work developing the material that would become the intricate and mysterious Prayers and Arsons.
For listeners discovering the band for the first time, Impure Wilhelmina may seem like Switzerland’s best-kept secret outside of a bank vault, but the group has developed a loyal following in its home country as well as neighbors France and Italy. Difficulties with the numerous borders throughout Europe, as well as the usual constraints of time, finance, and finding adequate promotions, have kept the group from touring much farther (like a stop in, say, Chicago), but thanks to the Internet and international distribution, it has found avid fans in all corners of the globe, including the United States and Indonesia, and some particularly devoted admirers in the Ukraine, which have elicited the band’s curiosity.
“Maybe because our music is so cold, like the country,” Schindl jokes. Though much of the band’s music conjures visions of barren, icy landscapes and breathes a noir-like sentiment, to call it “cold” is not entirely accurate. “Cold” implies certain levels of apathy and hardheartedness, attributes that definitely are not found in Impure Wilhelmina’s despairing, cinematic rock. As the band’s lead songwriter, Schindl has developed a unique style that incorporates elements of post-rock, hardcore, metal, and doom while also incorporating his pronounced pop sensibility.
“I’m an old fan of metal and other old stuff, but I like the melodies of pop music,” he says. “I try to mix metal and pop music. I can be found in my room a lot, singing and playing guitar.” The seamless way that these contrasting sounds are pieced together gives songs like Prayers and Arsons’ haunting opener “Continental Breed” and mood-shifting “The Rope” epic dimensions.
Perhaps by “cold,” Schindl is referring to the album’s lyrical content. “I like Swiss horror stories,” he says with a smile in his voice. “The lyrics on the record are about suicide, homicide, and genocide.” His knack for storytelling is apparent throughout the band’s catalog. “Knife,” which opens I Can’t Believe I Was Born in July with the plucking of a single acoustic guitar, finds Schindl softly singing, “Today I will take my knife / Kill my daughter and my wife.”
The band’s generous screams may create tension and drama, but when cloaked in sweet melodies that otherwise could be mistaken as love songs and lullabies, such unexpectedly violent lyrics become even more cryptic. Prayers and Arsons refines this narrative tradition so that from start to finish, the album plays like an audio anthology of ghost stories, exemplified by tunes like “Poisons and Blandes,” which takes inspiration from H.P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos.
Although death and decay permeate their music, the members of Impure Wilhelmina seemingly live normal, active lives, juggling their band with family life, day jobs, and other musical projects, including Valleise’s ongoing activity with Knut and Schindl’s second band, Vancouver.
The balancing act is worth it, according to Schindl. “You just have to go with it,” he says. “Tonight you have rehearsal after work. You take holidays for touring. It’s just a passion we have…if you don’t have the motivation, you can forget it.”